High Contrast

This 1971 album by the Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó is a smooth jazz-fusion record blending psychedelic jazz, pop, and Latin influences. It includes one of Szabó’s best-known tracks, "Breezin’", later famously reworked by George Benson. The album is marked by melodic guitar lines, cinematic arrangements, and a polished, atmospheric sound typical of early-70s jazz fusion. Szabo also delivers a few stellar originals, showcasing his signature fusion of Hungarian folk music, jazz, psychedelic rock, and Eastern modal sounds, including the punchy, serpentine "Amazon" and "Azure Blue". High Contrast sounds as if the many musical experiments Szabo had undertaken up to this point (like the album Dreams) had gelled into a seductive, grooved-out whole that created a real template for crossover jazz to follow. It stands with his very best work, soulful and visionary. This vinyl reissue is the first since 1988.