 Gabor Szabo Someone should make a movie about a really shallow college kid on a really perfunctory spiritual quest, and this can be the soundtrack. Szabo, best known for The Sorcerer on Impulse!, takes it easy with a handful of pop covers ("Dear Prudence," "Walk Away Renee," and of course "Both Sides Now") aimed at that not-too-into- jazz crossover crowd. (For those playing "count the Lennon-McCartney tunes," the total is 4 out of 11.) Not much "sorcery" happening here. The supporting cast includes Jim Keltner on percussion and Mike Melvoin (Wendy of Wendy & Lisa's dad) on organ, and everyone seems pretty set on not straining himself. I love finding the lazy albums in a jazz great's discography, you get so much more accurate a picture of the performer's career. Remember, even Charlie Parker did an album with strings. You know damn well Bird would have been covering "Both Sides Now" if he'd been around. So let's give 'em a break, they deliver the goods when it counts. Still, if Gabor Szabo is "the Nureyev of the guitar" (as Leonard Feather is quoted as saying on the cover), you'd expect something with a bit more flash. I mean, unless Nureyev showed up onstage in jeans and just did the Pony. Maybe I just don't know enough about Nureyev.
Review by Brandy Newman |