Sandor Szabo   Acoustic Poetry   solo baritone guitar   2005

Sándor Szabó"Acoustic Poetry", 2005 The music on this CD just grows on me. On all but one selection, Hungarian guitarist Sandor Szabo plays a custom Lakewood baritone guitar, using tunings ranging as low as contra bass A. "Walk," "Equation of the Existence" and several other tracks recall Pat Metheny's baritone guitar playing on "One Quiet Night." "The Silence of Your Soul" begins with a singer-songwriter sensibility, moves into a harmonically dark and rhythmically jagged section, then returns to the peacefulness of the introduction. Similarly, he juxtaposes contrasting moods in "Autumn in California." Szabo uses two extended suites, "The Rainmaker's Suite" and Hungarian Folk Ballads," to develop ideas and explore shifting textures at greater length. For a pleasant tonal contrast he plays a 21-string Chinese guzheng on "South Korean Landscape," which closes the disc. Sandor Szabo has a long pedigree as a solo and ensemble guitarist -- "Acoustic Poetry" should both satisfy his existing base of listeners and earn him many new fans.

Patrick Ragains