A pop-up exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of guitarist Gábor Szabó, during what would have been his 90th year, opened on September 10, at the Magyar Zene Háza (House of Music Hungary) in Budapest, Hungary. The exhibition – called Gabor Szabo: The Jazz Visionary – The Guitar Legend’s Journey from Budapest to Los Angeles…
Adrian Quesada Covers Gabor Szabo’s “The Divided City” (2026)
Guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada has included a dazzling cover of Hungarian jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo’s 1968 song “The Divided City” on his latest solo album, Trio Asesino (2026). Although Quesada has produced and fronted a number of eclectic albums of his own, he is best known for being a member of the Grammy Award-winning…
Gabor Szabo – “Spellbinder” at 60
Spellbinder (1966) is Gabor Szabo’s (1936-82) “breakout” album and remains, six decades later, one of the Hungarian guitarist’s very best in a slim discography that numbers only about a dozen-and-a-half studio recordings. Recorded in May 1966 and released in October of that year, Spellbinder is the second album the guitarist Gabor recorded, but his third…
Gary McFarland/Gabor Szabo – “Simpático” at 60
“Gary and Gabor play together for the first time in a small group. Soft jazz arrangements make this an LP of unusual appeal. Features originals, current tunes like ‘The Word,’ and standards such as ‘Cool Water,’ with unique bits of singing. humming and whistling by Gary and Gabor.” – ABC Records ad copy Simpático – the “á”…
Gabor Szabo – “Nightflight” at 50
The first of the final four studio albums Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo recorded before his untimely death in 1982, Nightflight is also, notably, the penultimate album under his own name to appear in his adopted homeland. It is also a polarizing one, but one that has remarkably gained in stature since its release half a…
Flemm – “Gábor Szabó Essay” (2025)
“[T]he feeling comes first, not the technique. It doesn’t matter if it’s one note or two notes or ten thousand notes. The way you express yourself is what’s most important.” The Hungarian guitarist Gábor Szabó was speaking here – in a translation from part of a 1974 interview included in the documentary film “Jazzpódium ’74…