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Quite often -- especially later in his career -- Gabor Szabo performed with very different groups than those with whom he recorded. By the time he found solo success in the early seventies, he would record almost exclusively with studio musicians and choose to perform with a small number of very talented musicians to round out a quartet or quintet. The lineup often changed on a nightly basis, depending upon each individual's availability.

While the guitarist had a special knack for choosing ideally talented musicians who adapted well to his musical universe, his choice of recording organizers was often questionable. Bunny Sigler, for example, recorded Szabo in 1976 with a group of Philadelphia studio musicians while George Cables was working in Szabo's regular quartet at the time. The unfortunate result was that the much more interesting Cables quartet went unrecorded.

The above lists are compiled from available information on Szabo performing aggregates and published reviews for several individual performances. Recorded groupings are not listed here since these players are outlined elsewhere. I am much indebted to Károly Libisch's excellent book, Feketére Festve: Szabó Gábor Gitármüvész Bio-Diszkográfiája (1993), for details -- especially the Hungarian groups -- provided here.