Sándor Szabó

Baritone Guitar Excursions

An accomplished and often recorded guitarist out of Hungary, Sandor Szabo has recently released Acoustic Poetry, an instrumental collection of solo baritone guitar pieces. Free and experimental, but at the same time, composed and structured, Szabo utilizes the full potential of his solo guitar playing. His guitar is a custom-made grand concert M-style Lakewood with a 650 mm scale, with two contra bass strings, followed by two treble strings and then the middle section. A unique tuning contributes to the special recorded sound he gets, and his compositions flow naturally, as Szabo takes his listeners through a virtual trip around the world - performed on his acoustic guitar. Acoustic Poetry is a seductive and compelling work, and should be sought after by fans of acoustic music.

Born in 1956 in Törökszentmiklos, Hungary, Sandor started his studies with a private teacher of classical guitar. After trying different styles from the middle of the seventies, he began to focus on jazz and improvisation. In the beginning of the eighties Sandor continued his studies in Budapest in the Jazz Facultaty of Bela Bartok Music Conservatory as a guest student. His career started in 1980. Sandor was the first to play solo acoustic guitar music in Hungary. His records have been released in England, USA and Germany. Sandor's playing can be heard in the three SzaMaba trio albums released in Hungary. In the eighties, he often invited musicians from other countries to play together, while in the nineties he met Massimo De Mattia, the Italian flutist. They played several tours in Italy and in Hungary, and their collaboration can be heard on the first album of SzaMaBa, "Hypnos". The SzaMaba trio disbanded in 1996, and since then Sandor has concentrated on his solo career.

Besides the acoustic projects, Szabo composes and plays contemporary experimental music introducing a new sound called AmbiMorph. In the last few years he has conducted far-reaching experiments to use the electric guitar sound in a radically different way. He created a new conception called Multishift for developing new interesting electric guitar sounds, which are based on the psychokinetic hearing.