Gabor Szabo
| Gábor Szabó | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gábor István Szabó |
| Born |
March 8, 1936 Budapest, Hungary |
| Died | February 26, 1982 (aged 45) Budapest |
| Genres | Jazz, chamber jazz, crossover jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1958–1982 |
| Labels | Impulse!, Skye, Blue Thumb, CTI, Mercury |
Gábor István Szabó (8 March 1936 – 26 February 1982), better known as Gábor Szabó, was an influential jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock, and his native Hungarian music.
Gábor Szabó was born in Budapest, Hungary, and began playing guitar at the age of 14, inspired by jazz music heard on Voice of America radio broadcasts. He escaped Hungary in 1956, the year of the attempted revolt against Soviet-dominated Communist rule, and moved to the United States where he attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston.
In 1958, he was invited to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival. Szabó then went on to perform with the quintet of Southern California drummer Chico Hamilton from 1961 to 1965, playing what has been described as chamber jazz, with "a moderate avant-gardism." In 1962 and ’63, Hamilton’s bands cut two albums consisting entirely of saxophonist Charles Lloyd compositions, with the title track of Man From Two Worlds featuring Szabó's guitar on top of a propulsive beat, parrying with Lloyd’s tenor sax. The CD reissue of the album features a cut called "Lady Gabor" that had been composed by Szabó.
Beginning in 1966 he recorded a well-received span of albums under his own name on the Impulse! label. In the late 1960s he co-founded the short-lived Skye record label along with Cal Tjader and Gary McFarland. Szabó recorded an album with Lena Horne on Skye in October and November 1969. Szabó had been part of Horne's backup band when she performed at The Nugget in Nevada in November 1966 and then when she performed (with Harry Belafonte) at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in September 1969. Likely Szabó had been first introduced to Lena Horne by her longtime accompanyist and his former band leader Chico Hamilton.
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