Gabor Szabo

[Brooks]

the "coolest looking jazz guitarist" thread reminded me that i need to dig deeper into gabor szabo's catalog,
but i do have these 2 tunes on my ipod (taken from jazz compilation cd's).

post your fave szabo tunes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uo1CYqM7lQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz0zYA_12og

 

[Stratosphere]

He influenced a couple of players I really liked but I'm not that familiar with him. He has a really good band backing him up in those videos as well. Thanks for posting that.

 

[DRS]

Santana was heavily influenced by Gabor.

 

[DRS]

 

[RickC]

With Gabor Szabo, I lean towards the live recordings more than the studio ones; they seem to capture his fire. This one from a '73 date with Charles Lloyd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHD04dXpK80&feature=related

/rick

 

[tsar nicholas]

Szabo is SO fantastic. A sinister genius.

 

[george4908]

Just a Little Communication:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tV3y-I94iM

Szabo released a lot of dreck, but this one is some funky sh*t.

 

[Bezzy]

Very good stuff!

 

[stevie2600]

Gabor is in my Top 5 guitarist List. Totally unique and understatedly melodic. Never did anything over the top flashy, but MAN, did it sound freaking COOL.

I still maintain that his studio version of Breezin' (which precedes George Benson's) is the best one. And The Sorcerer is a fantastic album. Great memories with friends and that album playing in the background.

Here's a couple of my favorites off the top of my head:

 

[schultzvil]

as some have said, there's good mixed in with the bad... some tacky stuff and some things sound dated; that said, I think the Spellbinder album is incredible. Really a classic..
That clip of Witchcraft is from this album. Title track is a groover, too.
The live stuff is incredible, too. Unique, soulful player... a big influence on Santana and... me.

 

[schultzvil]

and



these YouTube clips are kind of cool/ bizarre, seems the poster put clips of films up for visuals, but the music is all there- two classic cuts from Spellbinder with heavy groove factor & percussion. Bernard Purdie on traps..
beautiful guitar playing.

 

[gillman royce]

Yeah, he was the first to record ' Breezin ' and was using a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic with a sound hole pick up

 

[inaplacefaraway]

One of my all time Favorites! Should be as known as Jimmy Page. Their approach is very much of the same cloth. Alone or with others, very similiar, very important, and very now. I would of loved to have heard Gabor with a Marshall stack and his choice of electric guitar!

 

[loner]

Saw Gabor many times around LA/Orange County in early 70s. His albums where mostly uneven. Breezin' is probably the one exception. That said, I think Magical Connection shows his true playing to best advantage. Nothing replaced seeing him live, which could also be uneven, depending on who was playing with him and how high everybody was. The live album is ok, but the recording is horrible and the playing wanders. His playing on Lloyd's studio albums are nice, as are the Chico Hamilton albums. A shame he died before his time. It's also unfortunate he's pretty much forgotten. Magical Connection, to my knowledge, is still unavailable on CD. Some of the CTI recordings are nice. You have to be careful on the pre-Blue Thumb recordings. Spellbinder and Sorcerer are nice. Dreams is a nice recording. Most from the middle-to-late 60s are dated due to psychelic production values. The album with Lena Horne has some of his best ballad playing. Nice chording examples. He also does aome pretty playing on Paul Desmond's Skylark from the CTI period.

 

[jzgtrguy]

What a great thread thanks for posting. Saw him live back in the 70's. He opened up for Larry Coryell's Eleventh House. Great show