Gábor Szabó
The Sorcerer.
Two guitars, a Boston club and a programme that reaches from Cole Porter to Sonny Bono: The Sorcerer documents Gábor Szabó’s working quintet in 1967.
Impulse! released the album following performances at the Jazz Workshop in Boston on 14 and 15 April 1967. Szabó had already worked with Chico Hamilton and Charles Lloyd; here the focus is on the group he led with fellow guitarist Jimmy Stewart.
The two guitarists are joined by Louis Kabok on bass, Marty Morell on drums and Hal Gordon on percussion. That makes five players, with the rhythm section including both drums and a separate percussion chair. Stewart also contributes as a composer: “Lou-ise” is his piece, alongside Szabó’s own material and songs borrowed from elsewhere.
Pop songs and original pieces
The original LP opens with “The Beat Goes On”, Sonny Bono’s pop hit, then moves through “Little Boat”, “Lou-ise” and Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?” On the second side, “Space” sits beside “Stronger Than Us”, “Mizrab” and the closing “Comin’ Back”. The eight-track sequence places a contemporary pop song, a standard and Szabó originals within the same live set.
The label’s account describes the guitarists trading solos and improvising in counterpoint. Their partnership is the thread through that changing repertoire, rather than a programme restricted to standards or to one composer. It also continued beyond this release: further recordings from the Boston dates later appeared on the companion album More Sorcery.
Recording and edition choices
Reice Hamel captured the performances using a mobile recording studio built into a Volkswagen bus parked outside the club. Bob Thiele produced the album, with Nat Hentoff writing the liner notes and Lee Tanner providing photography. These credits place the live recording within the Impulse! production team behind the original release.
There is a useful programme difference between the physical editions below. The 1997 CD expands the original album with “Los Matadoros”, “People” and “Corcovado”, three performances from the same Boston dates first issued on More Sorcery. The 2023 Verve By Request LP retains the eight-track programme. Its credits identify Kevin Reeves for LP mastering and Third Man in Detroit for manufacture of the 180-gram vinyl.
Popular editions to consider
Vinyl: the 2023 Verve Records edition (B0037202-01 / A-9146 / AS-9146, Worldwide) appears in 1,271 Discogs collections. Its community rating is 4.63/5 from 94 votes. There are 106 copies listed for sale. View this Vinyl edition ↗
CD: the 1997 Impulse! edition (IMP 12112, Europe) appears in 210 Discogs collections. Its community rating is 4.41/5 from 29 votes. There are 19 copies listed for sale. View this CD edition ↗
Album details
| Original release | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Label | Impulse! |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Recording | Live · Jazz Workshop, Boston · 14–15 April 1967 |
| Quintet | Gábor Szabó · Jimmy Stewart · Louis Kabok · Marty Morell · Hal Gordon |
| Original programme | 8 tracks |