The Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo (1936-82) spent much of 1965 serving in the bands of the jazz-oriented Chico Hamilton Quintet, where he found his initial acclaim, the more energetic quartet of Charles Lloyd (and Hamilton’s former musical director) and the far more pop-oriented Gary McFarland Quintet.
He had also recorded studio records that year with each of these groups – Hamilton’s El Chico (Impulse), Lloyd’s Of Course, Of Course (Columbia) and McFarland’s The In Sound (Verve) – all of which stand strong among the very best recordings in the guitarist’s entire discography.
Subsequent years have also seen the revelation of several previously unreleased, though equally engaging live performances featuring the guitarist in 1965, including Gary McFarland’s Jazz at the Penthouse – included as part of the 2014 DVD release of Kristian St. Clair’s documentary film This is Gary McFarland – and Charles Lloyd’s Manhattan Stories, which contains the two tracks issued on the vinyl Live at Slugs’ (both 2014).
But it was November 1965 when Gabor Szabo launched his solo own career with the recording of Gypsy ’66. At the time, Szabo had only been active on the American recording scene for several years. As the linchpin on about a half a dozen records with drummer Chico Hamilton’s group, the guitarist had already attracted attention – and wild enthusiasm – for his unique sound and utterly original approach.
II.
Gypsy ’66 is, perhaps, a more subdued debut than one might expect from the eclectic Hungarian guitarist. Many might expect the guitarist to come out with something like the spectacular Spellbinder, his second solo album. But it is Gypsy ’66 that presented us with Szabo’s entrance on the solo stage and, more consequentially, the one that would set a pattern that shaped much of Szabo’s subsequent solo recordings: a mix of pop covers and originals, more or less directed by a producer’s individual discretion.
For those who would dismiss Gypsy ’66 as formulaic or something Impulse forced on to the guitarist, it is important to note that Gypsy ’66 was a “purchased master.” That means that Impulse bought the rights to the music from its producer – an entity (in its only known credit) called “Belle Arts International,” a likely pseudonym for Gary McFarland – only after the music was recorded.
By all accounts, Gypsy ’66 – even more than subsequent albums the guitarist made in this mold – is exactly the album that Gabor Szabo himself wanted to make. It is not, as some believe, something that was forced upon him or some prolonged effort to “market” the guitarist by the label as an “Exotic European.” It is my belief that Szabo himself sought out the distinction.
Szabo’s solo debut was also a bold move for the iconic Impulse Records label. At the time, Impulse was barely five years old. But it had already become iconic for its superb packaging and A-list talent pool of such forward-looking and cutting-edge jazz leaders as Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Chico Hamilton and John Coltrane. Indeed, Coltrane spearheaded Impulse’s “new wave of jazz” brand by taking jazz in to the avant-garde and introducing such like-minded Impulse leaders as Archie Shepp, Marion Brown and Pharoah Sanders.
Gypsy ’66 was something altogether new. “Szabo’s debut stands out most,” writes author, journalist and critic Ashley Kahn, “for being the [Impulse] label’s first title to lean heavily on rock or pop material of the day, [with the album] featuring two covers each of tunes by the Beatles and Burt Bacharach.”1
(Khan is correct here to point out that Shirley Scott was the first Impulse artist to record a Beatles song, covering “Can’t Buy Me Love” on Queen of the Organ in 1964. But that track was not issued until the the disc was reissued on CD with bonus tracks in 1993. It is, however, Shirley Scott who first recorded such pop hits as “Downtown” and “Can’t Get Over the Bossa Nova” on her Gary McFarland-arranged disc Latin Shadows, released the very same week in January 1966 as Gypsy ’66, but recorded four months earlier.)
Szabo never shied away from his love of pop music in general and, at least early on, The Beatles in particular. “Playing pop songs can only prove you’re a better musician by being able to do something with them,” Szabo said as far back as 1966. “I’m all for it. Original material in jazz is so limited…and people in jazz are writing and playing for each other and they’re only listening to each other. Consequently, the circle becomes tighter and tighter.2
As late as 1979, three years before his death and many labels later, the guitarist was still defending his musical choices: “I’m saying this with the greatest confidence,” said Szabo, “that I never really sacrificed any of my artistic or aesthetic values. It’s just that sometimes I might not fit the definition that certain critics, or some colleagues even, use, as to what is or isn’t jazz.”
He further elaborated that “(y)ou will never find me doing anything distasteful, but…you cannot ignore totally the sounds around you, the pulse of life that’s going on today. The artist’s duty is to reflect the times, to react to them, and to communicate it to the people. Through that communication, you can pass all the beauty of music.”3
III.
Surely, Gypsy ’66 is as much a Gary McFarland record as a Gabor Szabo disc. McFarland (1933-71), an in-demand A-list arranger and, himself, already something of a crossover success, was an especially kindred spirit to Gabor Szabo.
The two first met while at the Berklee School (now College) of Music – they first recorded there together in 1959 – and both burst on to the jazz scene of the early sixties in spectacular fashion. Szabo turned heads and hearts in drummer Chico Hamilton’s quintet while McFarland, a vibes player, made his name as a composer and arranger on albums of his own and those by Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Johnny Hodges, Anita O’Day and the Modern Jazz Quartet’s John Lewis, an early supporter.
When McFarland’s crossover album Soft Samba (1964) became a surprise hit, he was afforded the opportunity to put together his own band, featuring such up and comers as Szabo, Japanese reed player Sadao Watanabe, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Joe Cocuzzo. The unit toured the country and waxed the superb The In Sound, which was released at about the same time as McFarland and Szabo recorded Gypsy ’66.
McFarland is likely responsible for all the arrangements here and the absolutely enchanting instrumentation. Here, Szabo is supported by McFarland on marimba, Sadao Watanabe on flute, the guitars of Barry Galbraith and Sam Brown , Richard Davis or Szabo’s former Chico Hamilton Quintet bandmate Al Stinson on bass, Grady Tate on drums, and Willie Rodriguez or Francisco Pozo on percussion.
The collective sound is very much in the easy-listening jazz mold of McFarland’s The In Sound, but, to these ears, even classier and more sophisticated. Those who like their jazz a little meatier or messier – or prefer Szabo a little dirtier and more authoritative, as he would become by 1967, when he formed his first working group (also with a second guitar) – will not be moved much by Gypsy ’66.
McFarland’s light instrumental-pop approach may seem suffocating to some. But such criticism belies a crucial point: McFarland merely provides an appropriate foundation for Szabo to express his singular eloquence. This is a guitarist that has a special gift for honing and transforming melodies, his and especially others’. It is something that is too often overlooked when discussing Szabo. Think of it in the way Frank Sinatra interprets a song.
Szabo’s performance here conveys a sense that this is what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. He had actively sought relief from what he called the “energy music” of Charles Lloyd’s quartet and was, like McFarland, growing tired of the standard jazz repertoire and increasingly drawn to pop music.
As an aural business card, Gypsy ’66 makes for an auspicious introduction to the enchanting charms of Gabor Szabo.
IV
Everything about Gypsy ’66 is awash in elegance. From Impulse’s instantly recognizable gatefold packaging, replete with Robert Flynn’s lush design and Fred Seligo’s haunting photography, to the warm and inviting luster of both the instrumentation and the production, makes Gypsy ’66 a first-class release. Guitarist Gabor Szabo could not have asked for a better, slicker way to launch his solo career.
The program, however, takes the guitarist to places jazz listeners may not have been accustomed to hearing in 1966, the year of the disc’s release. That makes this a daring debut. But Gypsy ’66‘s dearth of improvisation – or its inability to find a happy medium between what was then understood as jazz and the emerging popularity of rock and roll – often gives listeners, to this day, consternation.
The Beatles covers include the lovely ballads “If I Fell” – originally from the 1964 album A Hard Day’s Night, and the b-side to the single of “And I Love Her,” which was covered by Gary McFarland on his 1964 album Soft Samba – and album-opener “Yesterday,” the Paul McCartney-written hit from 1965 that appeared on the U.K. album Help! and the notorious 1966 U.S. album Yesterday and Today.
Both songs are brief and radio-friendly, with “Yesterday” coming in at less than two-and-a-half minutes. That denies the guitarist anything in the way of an extended solo. But Szabo makes his points nicely in the brief space he’s allotted, particularly on “Yesterday.” The melody is mostly helmed by Watanabe’s flute, allowing Szabo to provide a striking (and unique) dialogue and, at the same time, a striking counterpoint. It is Szabo’s near-flamenco flourishes here that offer an object lesson in finding the beauty in economy.
Burt Bacharach is represented by the little-known “The Last One to be Loved,” first recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1964, and the well-known “Walk On By,” Warwick’s top 10 hit from that year (and recently sampled by Doja Cat for the 2023 number-one “Paint the Town Red”).
The latter of the two gets yet another moody Latin reading. Szabo handles the melody with his typical sensitivity, but offers little that would be considered jazz. In a Blindfold Test, moderator Leonard Feather played Szabo’s take on “Walk on By” for fellow guitarist Wes Montgomery – himself a successful crossover artist – who remarked: “That’s Gabor Szabo. I can tell right away. He’s got a unique style. It’s different.” Montgomery concluded, though, “(o)f course, I didn’t think that number was particularly exciting.”4
This listener is apt to agree. Montgomery – who covered such Bacharach hits as “What the World Needs Now” and “I Say a Little Prayer” – would likely have wanted to hear Szabo to do a little more with the basic melody.
“The Last One to Be Loved” – which likely appealed to Szabo, or more likely McFarland, in Bacharach’s own instrumental take of the tune on his 1965 album Hit Maker! – gets a superb treatment here. The tune’s unusual melody sounds like a concerto in Bacharach’s hands, which McFarland absolutely exploits to his advantage. It offers Szabo a solo worthy of his many charms.
McFarland offers two superb originals of his own with “The Echo of Love” and “Flea Market.” As a composer, McFarland had a special knack for clever, interesting melodies that were nevertheless compelling and, often, catchy. (For proof, check out the wonderful Latinates, “High Camp” and “Pfoofnick,” that McFarland contributed to drummer Dannie Richmond’s 1965 Impulse set “In” Jazz for the Culture Set.)
“The Echo of Love” is where Gypsy ’66 starts to kick in to gear. At a little over four minutes, this is where both McFarland and Szabo show how much more the album could have been. Watanabe takes a well-considered, though brief solo. Szabo follows suit with the album’s first appearance of his tasty improvisational skill, first in an all-too compact solo and again in the increasingly more heated outro.
McFarland’s delightful “Flea Market” has a south-of-the-border flavor that would have fit right in on McFarland’s Impulse record with trumpeter Clark Terry, Tijuana Jazz (recorded at about the same time as Gypsy ’66). But Szabo seems to have fun with it even so: the playful melody and the Tijuana piquancy being very much to his taste.
“Flea Market” would have made an ideal single choice, particularly as the song was being used as a jingle in 1966 to promote Fresca soda on TV (McFarland himself appears in the ad). That version of the song, known as “The Blizzard Song,” was issued as a “Free 45-RPM Record” – credited to Mitch Miller – that was attached (!) to bottles of the soda (still one of this writer’s favorites). Amazing any of these vinyl records survived unbroken.
McFarland would record “Flea Market” again, albeit at a far brisker tempo, for his 1968 album Does the Sun Really Shine on the Moon, an album that also features Gypsy ’66‘s Richard Davis and Grady Tate. Szabo’s version of “Flea Market” would later be sampled – quite ingeniously – by Mocean Worker (a.k.a. Adam Dorn) for “Tres Tres Chic,” a song that was also heard by many in the hit feature films The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and The Pink Panther (2006).
It is, as ever, though, Szabo’s originals that offer the disc’s most joyous listening and make Gypsy ’66 well worth hearing. Both tracks, given gypsy-oriented titles, are the album’s longest and most musically satisfying. Of the two, the title track offered the guitarist something of an early signature song (Szabo’s “Gypsy Queen” and “Breezin” became hits by other hands).
“Gypsy ’66” began life as “Lady Gabor,” a marathon 13-minute workout that first appeared on the Chico Hamilton quintet’s breakout Impulse album Passin’ Thru (1963). The song became a feature for the guitarist in Charles Lloyd’s 1965 quartet (two versions are featured on the 2014 release Manhattan Stories) and the saxophonist would continue playing it – as “Gypsy ’66” – with his next quartet, famously composed of pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Cecil McBee (and, later, Ron McClure) and drummer Jack DeJohnette.5 Lloyd would later record “Lady Gabor” (on flute) for his 2021 Blue Note album Tone Poem, with his group The Marvels, featuring Bill Frisell on guitar and Greg Leisz on steel guitar.
Here, Szabo casts several bravura spells, while the rhythm section whips up an exotic, though heady concoction to urge him on. Oddly, Watanabe mostly sits this one out. A solo from either him or McFarland would have added a nice balance or contrast. But it is Szabo’s show here and he makes the most of his moment in the spotlight, offering up a series of transfixing patterns. Some of these would animate later performances but each bear the trademark hand of this truly unique guitarist.
“Gypsy Jam,” sounds very much like what the title says it is, something made up at the last moment in the studio. There isn’t much of a melody here. But Szabo’s musicality and melodic prowess provides all the melody that is necessary. The framework seems to be established by bassist Richard Davis and Grady Tate, with the guitars and percussion falling right in to a nice Latin groove. Watanabe has more of a role here than on “Gypsy ’66” and his is a sunny contrast to Szabo’s brooding introspection.
One could wish that more of Gypsy ’66 was like “Gypsy ’66” and “Gypsy Jam.”
The album closes with the little-known “I’m all Smiles,” from the 1965 Broadway musical The Yearling, a play which saw only three performances at the time. The song is probably best known from Barbara Streisand’s 1964 version, but has somehow gone on to become something of a jazz standard, with former Szabo-keyboardist George Cables’s version being among the most recent.
Here, McFarland and Szabo cast “Smiles” as a soft samba. The guitarist states the initial melody, before launching in to his dialogue-counterpoint with Watanabe, as he did on “Yesterday.” Szabo’s brief, though somewhat stilted solo (and outro) is somehow unconvincing, making one wonder what he felt about this song (show tunes rarely, if ever, figured in Szabo’s repertoire). Still, it’s an odd note to go out on.
IV.
Gypsy ’66 was released in January 1966, along with a staggering 11 other Impulse titles, including Chico Hamilton’s El Chico (two John Coltrane titles, including Ascension, were also part of this bundle of releases). It’s fair to say that the guitarist was not served well by this. The music weeklies were too overwhelmed to either spotlight or even note the guitarist’s solo debut.
Neither the album nor the single pulled from it (“Yesterday”) ever charted.6 But the album sold well enough to earn the guitarist an Impulse contract (for another half-dozen releases)7 and at least one repressing of the disc, with the label’s 1967 switch to the Impulse/ABC Records logo.
In his three-star review, DownBeat‘s Pete Welding favorably compared Gypsy ’66‘s structure to El Chico‘s spontaneity: “The Szabo collection is quite charming and makes for pleasant listening,” wrote Welding, “but not for much repeated listening. Most of the material and treatments are too slight to sustain one’s interest over the long stretch.”
He concluded: “The music soothes the ear. but rarely seizes the heart or mind; but then, solid craftsmanship has never been an effective substitute for inspiration. And this set has all the virtues of a craftsmanlike [sic] job done with taste, attention to detail, and thoroughgoing competence but, alas, all too little inspiration.”8
Years later, Allmusic’s Scott Yanow would be surprisingly more sympathetic. “Szabo’s original sound, the unusual instrumentation (two or three guitars) and McFarland’s clever arrangements uplift the music.”9 This listener concurs. Mr. Yanow is hardly ever this gracious when it comes to crossover music of any stripe.
Others weren’t as impressed. “The biggest flaw of the LP,” writes Gabor Szabo biographer Károly Libisch, “is that arranger McFarland subordinated every musical form and musical idea to a Latin pulse (of course, he was not alone in this, as almost everyone from guitarist Joe Pass to tenor saxophonist Stan Getz tried this sound at the time). Szabó’s more personal voice breaks through the uniformity in some pieces, but in the end everything is washed away by the Latin cavalcade.” [translation mine]10
Three months after Gypsy ’66 was recorded, McFarland would feature Szabo in all-star orchestra that was captured on the Impulse record Profiles (1965). The program featured McFarland’s fairly lackluster tribute to Szabo, “Mountain Heir,” a feature for the guitarist. The two would team up again several months later to headline the Impulse release Simpatico (1966), a not altogether successful – and ill-advised – bid to cross over as pop singers – something McFarland would attempt again toward the end of his career with Butterscotch Rum (1971).
In 1968, McFarland and Szabo would join forces with vibraphonist Cal Tjader and their mutual manager, Norman Schwartz, to form the artist-run label Skye Recordings. Szabo helmed four albums for the short-lived label, including what is among the guitarist’s very best solo recordings, the masterful Dreams (1968), which, again, was superbly produced and arranged by McFarland.
Surprisingly, Gypsy ’66 has never had a standalone CD release in the U.S. or Europe. The disc has, however, been reissued on CD several times in Japan between 1998 and 2020. In 2002, the German Speakers Corner label reissued Gypsy ’66 as a 180-gram vinyl release, beautifully reproducing the original album’s glossy, heavy cardboard gatefold sleeve.
In 2015, Gypsy ’66 was paired with Szabo’s next release, Spellbinder, as a CD “two-fer,” as part of an extensive series begun in 2011 celebrating the Impulse label’s fiftieth anniversary, Impulse 2-on1 (pictured above). Fortunately, though, Gypsy ’66 is also available on all streaming platforms.
Endnotes:
- Kahn, Ashley, The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2006), p. 167. ↩︎
- Jazz, August 1966, p. 30. ↩︎
- Crescendo, November 1979, pp 2-21 and p 29. ↩︎
- DownBeat, June 29, 1967, p. 45. ↩︎
- During 1966-67, the Charles Lloyd Quartet regularly performed Szabo’s “Gypsy ’66” (a.k.a. Lady Gabor). According to Michel Ruppli’s Atlantic Records: A Discography, several performances of the song were recorded (July 23 or 24, 1966, at Antibes; October 29, 1966, in Oslo and January 27, 1967, in San Francisco). Only the October 1966 performance, titled “Gypsy ’66,” was issued on The Flowering of the Original Charles Lloyd Quartet (Atlantic SD-1586), a 1971 compilation of previously unreleased Lloyd performances. ↩︎
- Billboard‘s Jazz chart was not introduced until 1967. ↩︎
- Bob Thiele, director of A&R at Impulse from 1961 to 1969, developed what was then known as “one-shot” deals for the Impulse label; single-album deals with individual artists. “I always level in front,” Thiele told jazz journalist Robert Palmer in 1971. “I say look, we’ll make an album; if it doesn’t happen, we’re not going to hold you. But if it does happen, let us all enjoy the fruits of our efforts. So the musician really is not getting himself into a three- or four-year association unless the record is successful.” (Kahn, p. 74.) ↩︎
- DownBeat, April 7, 1966, p. 30. ↩︎
- All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz – 4th Edition (San Francisco, Backbeat, 2002), p. 1211. The online review adds “Sadao Watanabe on flute, Gary McFarland on marimba, bass, drums and percussion” to the “unusual instrumentation.” ↩︎
- Libisch, Károly , Feketére Festve: The Bio-Discography of Guitarist Gábor Szabó (Budapest, Kariton, 2020), p. 31. ↩︎