Jazz Raga, recorded in August of 1966, and released in early 1967, is Hungarian jazz guitarist
Gabor Szabo's third album for Impulse!, and his most exotic and mysterious.
Szabo not only played guitar on the live-to-two-track sessions, he also overdubbed sitar on nine of the album's eleven cuts. Produced by
Bob Thiele and engineered by
Rudy Van Gelder, it combines
Szabo's singular guitar sound (equally influenced by West Coast jazz, Hungarian gypsy folk songs, and Indian music -- which he began studying as early as 1961), as he fronts a rhythm section of drummer
Bernard Purdie and upright bassist
Jack Gregg on nearly half of the album with an expanded lineup that also included electric bassist
Bob Bushnell on the rest. On what has now become
Szabo's signature tune, "Mizrab" (perhaps the first truly psychedelic jazz composition) Ed Shaugnessy was added on tablas. Musically,
Jazz Raga dwells in the no man's lands between jazz, psych rock, Indian, and Eastern European music. Its track selection includes two standards -- "Caravan" and "Summertime" -- a smoking cover of the
Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," and eight
Szabo originals. While some of the titles, like "Search for Nirvana," "Raga Doll," and "Krishna" seem dated, they don't taint the power of the music. "Mizrab," with its driving tablas, mantra-like bassline, open-tuned, droning guitar and a call-and- response sitar, creates a melody that is at once haunting, inviting, and affecting. The groove is monstrous, infectious, and dizzying.
Szabo's glorious staccato playing on "Raga Doll" complements the hypnotic but gentle Latin groove laid down by
Purdie.
Gregg's descending five-note bass pattern that breaks in the middle, creates a halting, anticipatory breath in the listener. "Sophisticated Wheels" adds a tough samba rhythm and a taut engagement between
Purdie and
Gregg. The sitar and guitar create a contrapuntal feel, adding to the dimension of the tune. "Paint It Black" one ups the
Stones' version; it employs the sitar right up front, not for coloring the melody, but as a foundational element. "Ravi" is actually funky thanks to
Purdie's drumming, while
Szabo's instruments play alternately at one another, communicating intensely. "Caravan" comes off as something completely otherworldly, while "Summertime" is one of the most original versions ever recorded. “Comin’ Back” combines a 12-bar blues with a surf riff and R&B drums, with a killer tone by
Szabo. The album received mixed reviews at the time but developed a lasting cult following.
Jazz Raga is a classic for its barrier-breaking invention and startling creativity. [Light in the Attic remastered it and issued it on CD in 2010. It contains a 40-page booklet with rare photos, a reprint of a Downbeat feature from 1967, an excellent essay by Doug Sheppard, and interviews with
Purdie and
Gregg, among others.] ~ Thom Jurek