Spellbinder. What an accurate description!
I am honestly not a huge fan of jazz in general. For me, most of the time, I just don't "get it". Yeah, I know, I should be scorned now because I volunteer at a predominately jazz radio station, but there is some that I do really enjoy...about 20%. For me, a lot of times, jazz generally goes on and on and on and I don't really see the point, but this record, for sure, has set me straight in a way.
This album is absolutely amazing. I put it on and right from the start, I wasn't bored in any way. Aside from the couple minutes it took me to scan the album cover and size the pictures, I sat here in the early afternoon sun and just immersed myself in this great instrumentalist.
Side One:
Spellbinder
Witchcraft
It Was a Very Good Year
Gypsy Queen
Side Two:
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
Cheetah
My Foolish Heart
Yearning
Autumn Leaves
Speak to Me of Love
While, in my opinion, side one is a lot more interesting than side two, it's all good. The gatefold cover also had some great descriptions of the songs and a little about Gabor Szabo himself, since I pretty much had no idea about him. It is interesting to note that "Cheetah" was inspired by a "new New York discotheque", which I believe I have some pictures of in one of my old Life magazines. Very cool.
All in all, I give "Spellbinder" a 4 out of 5 star rating. I'll absolutely be looking into more of his stuff.
If you are a slight jazz nay-sayer and don't believe me as to how awesome this is, check out the title track here:
John?
Where did you buy this record and when?
"This has to be a very early purchase of mine from Izzy's, so it has to be 1995 or 1996."
Do you own it in any other format?
"I have it on CD"
What is your over-all impression of this album?
"It's great! It's hard to describe. It drifts along and sucks you in, and it's relaxing. Great guitar."
Favorite Track?
"The title track, 'Cheetah', and 'Gypsy Queen'."
How many stars out of five?
"Four and 1/2. I knock it down for 'Autumn Leaves'"
The nice thing about most of Gabor's Impulse stuff is that it's trippy and exotic enough to please not only fans of jazz but fans of psychedelic music, ragas and such. I like all of them so his LP, and this one especially are some seriously good headphone music (aka "head sounds").
ReplyDeleteWorth noting that Gabor's Gypsy Queen was the original recording of what Santana covered in combination with Black Magic Woman (itself, of course, a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song).
ReplyDeleteFab album and I am really getting into Gabor's material.Twitter @loxymusic
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