Gabor Szabo 90 – opening
Exhibition opening
Exhibition/Installation
Szervezés:
Gabor Szabo 90 – opening
This programme is held in Hungarian.
The most acclaimed Hungarian jazz guitarist
Undoubtedly the most internationally known and most acclaimed Hungarian jazz guitarist is Gábor Szabó (1936–1982), who lived and created in the United States from a young age. In tribute to his art, the Hungarian Jazz Federation established the most important professional award to this day in 1992.
By the mid-1950s, Szabó was already a regular at the most important Budapest jam sessions of the era; for a short time, he performed with Menyus Totth’s band at the Astoria Bar, and in the summer of 1956 he even made a radio recording as a member of Tamás Deák’s ensemble. After the suppression of the revolution, he left the country at the age of twenty as an ambitious musician, first settling in Austria, then in the United States. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he joined drummer Chico Hamilton’s quintet, with whom he recorded a number of memorable albums. In this formation he met Charles Lloyd, whose quintet he later also played in. The year 1964 brought him true professional recognition: in the Down Beat critics’ poll he triumphed in the Best New Guitarist of the Year category – sharing the honor with Attila Zoller – and moreover, he placed eighth in the overall ranking of jazz guitarists. In 1965 he formed his first own band and with it released perhaps his most famous album, the energetic Latin jazz Spellbinder. It features his best-known track, Gypsy Queen, which in 1970 – appended to Black Magic Woman – became a worldwide hit in Carlos Santana’s rendition.
Szabó first returned to Hungary in 1974, and after that came home twice more – the last time, essentially to die. Not long after, he released his final LP, Femme Fatale, already in Hungary.
This year the guitar genius would have turned 90, and we are still trying to explore his mystical life story through photos and letters from the family archive, as well as album covers that are difficult to access here at home! At the opening, alongside the artist’s brother János and son Balázs, his nephew Sándor Darányi will also pay tribute to their legendary relative, and András Párniczky’s quartet will evoke Szabó’s excellent compositions with a mini concert.
During the exhibition, Tünde Tálas’s short film will be screened for the first time in the Pop Culture Club Library, in which Gábor Szabó’s former contemporaries – those influenced by his music or who have covered one or two of his songs, such as Santana, George Benson, or his fellow musician Charles Lloyd – praise his musical greatness.
Dear Visitor, We kindly inform you that during the event, photographs, audio recordings, and/or video recordings may be taken. By attending the event, you consent to the recording of such materials through your implied conduct.
