The Sorcerer
by Gábor Szabó

When Charlie Christian revolutionized jazz guitar in the late 30s and early 40s, the cliche used to praise him all the time was, "He plays like a horn player." His tone and phrasing, and the simple fact that with amplification he could play single-note lines and be heard, made him sound horn-like which equated to sophisticated, to a generation that thought guitar sounded a little hokey. It defined the sound of jazz guitar for a long time. Gabor Szabo doesn't do that traditional thing: he absolutely sounds like a guitarist, and this is a very guitar-y album. There's no other soloist, really--there's a brief bass solo at one point--but mostly it's album's worth of Gabo exploring his fretboard.

Each tune, though, has its particular character, which keeps it from all sounding the same. From the opening cover of The Beat Goes On, a one-chord vamp, to the bongo and guitar duet in What Is This Thing Called Love, to the very 1967 feedback and modal drone in Space, each tune has particular intent; it's not just soloing over changes for the sake of it. This is an entertaining live album with a cool 60s vibe. Gabor Szabo's music could use a revival of interest.