The Album Club: "Dreams" by Gabor Szabo
 

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Next one up; this is from Psy-Fi, whose last pick was pretty universally loved. Can he make it two for two? Let's see. Discuss, debate, vote, review and rate here.

I love this album. I used to put it on before I went to sleep. I'm not a huge fan of single guitar player type stuff but Szabo and Reinhardt are just in their own different class. Plus, the cover to this album is badass.

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This is an especially good pick because it’s time for mass re-evaluation of this artist and where he deserves to stand among the pantheon of jazz guitarists. I should spend a couple days digging in myself. This fantastic record seems like a great place to start.

Having seen this was a solo guitarist album, and a jazz one at that, I did: I groaned. I thought "Here we go again!" But in fact I was wrong. I expected a sort of introspective, gentle, lullaby-type album of soft classical or acoustic guitar music, which is fine in its place, but after OH's borefest last week I wasn't ready for that again.

This was light-years ahead. Some slow material, yes, but overall very upbeat, interesting, clever and engaging. It's hard to pick out favourite tracks, as I kind of listened to it as one suite, but I can definitely say I enjoyed the whole thing. Having listened to it once, I hit repeat: always a good sign.

Top marks again, Psy-Fi! Voted Love. :thumb:

One of my favorite Third Stream albums, all killer and no filler. Szabo would later attempt to get his hands wet in the George Benson smooth-jazz style mold (and not very well overall), but here he's at his peak, especially on his haunting interpretation of 'Half The Day Is Night'. Guys like Jan Akkerman and Claus Ogerman owe a lot of their best work to Szabo's preferred aesthetic, so he gets major brownie points from me there for that.

10 out of 10.

Probably my favorite album by Gabor Szabo. Instrumental jazz, classical, pop, Eastern & Latin, all seamlessly flowing from one to the next much like the way dreams flow during sleep. Various instruments come and go during the course of the album, providing various vibes and constantly changing the mood. A superb group of musicians along with Gabor Szabo, collaborating to produce a superb album.