Gabor Szabo: Who Cares About His MIddle Eastern Modalities Aside From Me And Hurting?

I'd like to heard the one he did with Purdie.

I've got Sorceror, a live one on Impulse from 67-68, I think, which I like quite a bit. Maybe a bit less cheese-tastic than some of the later stuff? (Though it does have "People" and "The Beat Goes On" on it -- which are good!). Cool, winding guitar passages, congas, etc. Also have High Contrast, his album with Bobby Womack, which is quite nice -- very breezy, with lush orchestrations, funky guitars. Finally, I've got Mizrab on CTI I think, which has Jack DeJohnette (and Ron Carter maybe?). Some of its good (the title track) some of it is really bad (most of side 2).

I'm down with Szabo. "Jazz Raga" is very much on the it's-the-60s-and-we-are-going-to-plunder-"world"-music tip ... and it's really great and sitar-ific(great album cover too). And "sorcerer" is nice too. As far as I can tell, he was pretty unfuckiwthable with his late 60s stuff on the skye label. But, the other day, I tried out "High Contrast" (on Blue Note/ Blue Thumb) and thought is was pretty bland early 70s schmaltziness with a few decent tracks. Ruined by the 70s?

I just picked up this record he did with Gary Mcfarland called Simpatico. Some of it is pretty cheez but the cover of Norwegian Wound is awesome. I like Sorceror a lot. An interview in Wax Poetics piqued my interest in Gabor. I found a 2lp Impulse! best-of called Great Hits or something, it seems like a good summary.

I meant Norwegian Wood, obviously. Norwegian Wound is...something else.

Ha ha, good name for a band!

http://www.dougpayne.com/jazzraga.gif

har, "Norwegian Wound" -- sounds like an awesome black metal band ... hey, Szabo IS dead, right?

Wish that image was larger, but it was the best i could find. Dude is playing sitar on a vespa and chattin up a mod fox.

to answer my own q, yes he is dead. died in 1982.

The truth be told, I don't actually know what Hurting thinks about him, I just know he put his name on that jazz guitar poll, where he received zero votes.

Norwegian Wound WAS a band. I was even in it.

i'm a big fan of Wind, Sky & Diamonds. it's pretty much a soft pop album like the Free Design or something. has tons of vocals on it and covers of big pop songs. on impulse. was sampled by PUTS. very similar to the Tom Scott album Honeysuckle Breeze.

http://www.dougpayne.com/windsky.gif http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/4/1/3/f41422b223h.jpg

haha, those album covers are awesome. The 60s! So when you say there are vocals, are they by Gabor?

nope. on both albums they're by the California Dreamers

although gabor does a bit of talking on San Francisco Nights

Gabor sings a little on Simpatico and it's pretty charming.

always loved his album covers

He can do no wrong in my book, seventies "shmaltziness" and all. It's particularly interesting to read about the technical setup that he used (easily google-able if one is curious).

Apparently he fell into a heroin habit towards the end of his life. Bah...

thanks for the suggestions, jaxon. will have to hunt those dowm as I do love both gabor and the free design.

I have "Sorceror" and listen to it frequently . . .

A girlfriend of mine was a fan. Keep Smilin' from '76 is nice, though a long way from his Sorceror stuff.

Galatea's Guitar on his album "Dreams" is incredible.

Is this the same Gabor Szabo that worked with Polanski?

Äh! Nevermind. I was thinking of Komeda... Sorry.

Thanks for the input, guys!

I was investigating a bunch of jazz guitar the last year or two. Szabo is not the improvisational master as some, but the guy had his own sound.

Bacchanal/1969- more of an instrumental psychedelic pop record. Bacchanal is really drony and I would definitely use it if I was a filmmaker making a movie of Helter Skelter.

High Contrast- this one has Bobby Womack on rhythm guitar and features the first version of "Breezin" which was later made famous by George Benson. It has a bit of early 70s smooth r&b to the sound, but it is worth hearing.

Spellbinder & The Sorcerer- The jazz quotient is a slight bit higher on these two records and I think both are really good. There are still some pop covers, but they are kind of catchy.

Chico Hamilton's Man from Two Worlds is a good one to check out, as that is probably the best all around group Szabo played with.

There's a great cover of his Walkiing On Glass on the 1st, s/t Insect Trust lp too

'69 album sounded good to me yesterday. i don't really listen to his records anymore. i did when i was in my swinging 20's. just got perfect copies in for the store though - along with minty gary mcfarland records - and they always sound so good production-wise.

one of my faves. i left more sorcery in a store once because i figured i had it all on an impulse reissue of the sorceror - that's right, right?

he got really short shrift in a recent ilx poll of jazz guitarists. he has such a good range & still such a spiky slinky style throughout it all.

i am in my swinging 20s btw

Galatea's Guitar on his album "Dreams" is incredible.

^^^ Pretty great album overall.

i have this LP, pretty dope bunny sigler cover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCFVNvaMmOU

cant get enough of this dude this week but every time he does a hokey 60's hit/standard it bums me out and i have to switch the track

"Dreams" LP ftw tho

i guess not ALL the 60's pop songs-- the live version of "the beat goes on" is pretty great

ha, aww i know what you mean but there are some that are sweet enough. i can't actually remember what. but sure there were some that passed the time nicely. i'm just going to assume he did dear prudence b/c that sounds about right & cite that. it's not like he's feliciano.

i don't know dreams!, what kind of gabor is it? i just heard some of one of the chico hamilton records he plays on, w/a female vocalist, that sounded kinda nice.

nothing could budge sorceror as my pick fwiw, that is why i am listening to gabor szabo. it feels like it matches an archetype of some kinda ''mystical'' ''eastern'' music that nothing else (that-i-know-about) quite hits.

dreams ends w/a donovan cover, feel like you've stabbed me in the back here grady.

nothing could budge sorceror as my pick
yeah, i wish more of his stuff was like this tbh. i haven't heard it all, of course.

sometimes i just pull out one channel lead from my stereo, play one of his 45s on 33 & join in on handchimes. sorcerizin'.

yeh, i understand yr reticence, gr8080. love gabor szabo but mostly his original compositions.

listened to this when i, uh i mean a friend of mine was on drugs one night. amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fFM0jo1Ig

o man that song . love the parts where he's singing and strumming just slightly "off"

best played loud.

touché, but i did specify "hokey/standard" songs.

"ferris wheel" is so perfect.

pretty sure i've posted this on ilx before but the Mark E edit of "Keep Smiling" is dope imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAvCA8y_dpY

gonna get the cover art to "Dreams" tattooed on my back:
http://i.imgur.com/Cxim1.jpg

almond alien eyes in lower right corner giving me traumatic abduction flashbacks tbh

bro have you done a thread about that, cause

quite possibly??

lol

in my next life i'm gonna be a mom, sweating over a casserole while blasting rickie lee jones' first record. uh, wait, i already do that now! never mind...

every once in a while i get a call like this "hey! where is my joni mitchell album?! you better bring that with you next time you come home"

i prefer thinking about the long chronology of me stealing records from my parents as a timeline chronicling the evolution of my taste, rather than an act of filial betrayal. like it's funny which ones i used to leave on the shelf and then a couple of family gatherings later zeroed in on and stole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqGUxlKSdm4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlA3KaKN77o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DC6Tm58scY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZWpYMgEjo

If I had to do a top 10 of musicians with the coolest sounding names he'd definitely be up there.

cool clips! thanks for posting.

No matter how much of his music I hear, when I hear his name, the first thing I think is always middle-distance Romanian athletics

I listened to Gabor Szabo for about 2 hours while driving through the Bosnian countryside this past Sunday afternoon. It was perfect.

good combo

buying so many gabor szabo records lately

i can't believe there are no published biographies/documentary films on this dude

I need to get some, see so many of hIs records around for cheap

steer clear of the 70s stuff unless bob james style easy jazz is your thing

60s stuff is safe?
I bet I'm seeing the 70s stuff

xpost!

with some exceptions of course, mizrab & rambler both have a few tracks of the east~meets~west sound, and night flight is essential if only for "keep smiling"

but i'd say my essential short list, in order, would be:

1. dreams
2. bacchanal
3. jazz raga
4. spellbinder
5. more sorcery

if u spot any of those cheap buy ASAP

are you deliberately excluding the sorcerer or is it just implicit that it is the mothership

almost anything from the 60's is great, but i'm personally averse to a lot of the pop music covers

"faces" from 77 is prob the only one i could go without ever hearing again entirely

xpost lol i guess sorcerer would be my #6? maybe i need to relisten soon!

ha you should! i need to check your list but it's so good. the spacy first half especially.
i have a higher tolerance for gabor doing like a mellow instrumental lucy in the sky with diamonds than i do hearing jose feliciano but that stuff is kinda forgettable, yeah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttwcTL5uolg

^^ have this on the "his greatest hits" double LP from 1971, also a must-buy, only a few duds on it

the recently released 1965 recordings w/ szabo, charles lloyd, ron carter + pet larocca are pretty awesome. maybe charles lloyd needs his own thread, that'd be wildly popular.
does gabor get cred for being a feedback pioneer? he's doing some cool stuff here, which seems pretty ahead of the curve for 1965.

I enjoyed "Night Flight", went well in groove and decadent "yacht" mixes I made.

Chico Hamilton's Man from Two Worlds is a good one to check out, as that is probably the best all around group Szabo played with.

― earlnash, Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:14 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

second this

I haven't listened to this dude for years, I dug out Bacchanal tonight and damn it is so good.

bacchanal is so good

yeah it is! didn't realize until recently that it's jim keltner playing drums there (went on to play with ... pretty much everyone).

had no idea he a) had a drug problem and b) went to scientology to take their cure, with predictable results (ie lawsuits)

hey who didn't get through the 70s without a drug problem or a flirtation with a cult or both

lol true I just kinda figured he was a square

you headz probably know this one, but szabo playing eight miles high is a nice 60s thang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWE_RfZW74Y

Been listening to Bacchanal and Dreams a lot today and they sound like his strongest albums, that fragile melody on his Love Is Blue makes me want to cry.

does gabor get cred for being a feedback pioneer?

I think a little bit, but what he does with it is so subtle and controlled I don't know if people really catch it.

Possibly posted upthread, but this is seriously great. I could easily picture this jam on a Three Lobed LP

www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1UeCtGGBuo

This stuff rules. Thanks.

Fantasy concert I am going to image in my head: The Pentangle, Gabor Szabo, Popol Vuh.

imagINe that is. Can't type anymore.

mizrab is the best

yeah i could listen to mizrab over and over and never get tired of it.
gonna reemphasize my recommendation of that charles lloyd live thing! been listening to it a ton, just wonderful music throughout.

does gabor get cred for being a feedback pioneer?

I think a little bit, but what he does with it is so subtle and controlled I don't know if people really catch it.

― master shammer (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Saturday, February 7, 2015 6:04 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In the John French Beefheart book he mentions them (orig magic band) seeing Szabo play in the early 60s and being impressed with his feedback use

oh no kidding! that is cool. i have a hunch jerry garcia was listening as well.

thought i'd arrived at the end of the road wrt szabo' output till i discovered his work with the chico hamilton quintet:

https://youtu.be/0BJNxVf_iLM

https://youtu.be/_Wn4-NSu64w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BJNxVf_iLM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wn4-NSu64w

Yeah "El Chico" is a really good album! Man From Two Worlds has Gabor on it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzYsnq9-JvQ

maybe charles lloyd needs his own thread, that'd be wildly popular.

― tylerw, Friday, February 6, 2015 2:21 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm all for this. I've been enjoying lots of Charles Lloyd these days, especially Big Sur Tapestry and some of his new age-y things. "Forest Flower" is of course classic, and the most recent one I heard (Hyperion with Higgins?) was excellent as well. Could use a proper thorough S&D, I'm just sorta dipping into his catalog at random and there is--predictably--quite a bit to hear

Charles Lloyd’s latest record is appearing in some year end roundups: 8: Kindred Spirits, Live From The Lobero.

But I can to post about an interesting spinoff from Gabor Szabo’s band I just became aware of, something called The Advancement. How to describe their single album? Kind of psych, proggy horror movie giallo vibe.

I too care about Gabor's middle eastern modalities but.. the album he plays sitar on? That is some of the worst sitar playing I've ever heard in my life, I think I could play sitar better. Why didn't anyone on the session tell him it was miles out of tune?

Dunno, but there’s nothing out of tune on The Advancement album.

Don't remember seeing this thread before---how long, o Lord, before I give this guy theee attention he deserves? Mentions of Lloyd remind me of my Rolling Jazz 2019 post:
Looking for Charles Lloyd on Bandcamp, found Manhattan Stories (2014), comprised of
Two 1965 New York Concerts, Disc 1 recorded at Judson Hall & Disc 2 recorded at Slugs' Saloon.
A remarkable and previously unrecorded quartet featuring three jazz giants: guitarist Gábor Szabó, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Pete La Roca.
'It was a specific time and place'; Lloyd told Manhattan Stories annotator Don Heckman. 'We all felt like the boundaries were being dissolved and we could do or try anything. This is a music of freedom and wonder -- we were young and on the move.'
Which is just what the sample track, "Sweet Georgia Brown," sounds like (17' 49", but quite spritely). Especially digging the interplay of guitar and sax, bass and cymbals, also succinct solos, esp. PLR's and Szabo's---the latter bright and brittle, autumn leaves, but def not drifting. What other Szabo should I check? Used to see his LPs...
https://charleslloyd.bandcamp.com/

Checking that out now, thanks

There was a piece on szabo in ugly things 2 issues back. Possibly 3 by now.