SZOBEL

Hermann would be an explosive multi-dimensional therapist based upon avantgarde-jazz approaches.

Zappaish complicated hustle bustle avenue and cool piano sound palace ... they all musical collaborators might be a perfect quintet methinks. One of their remarkable sound points is they would play their style intensively along with leanings toward free-form jazz (the fourth track "Transcendental Floss" a bit reminds me of Yosuke Yamash'ta Trio), and this point itself might mist or blur impression of originality, their instrumental technique should be awesome though.

Very positive phase is kaleidoscopic appearance of the third (and the shortest in this album) track "Between 7 And 11" filled with improvised piano play-based sound landscape crystallized via all of instruments. On the other hand, the second shot "The Szuite" sounds flooded with Zeuhl-ish quirkiness, inspired sound chasing, and therapeutic surrealism, especially in the beginning or the middle. As if their cogwheels could perfectly engage with each other, there is no awkwardness nor irritation but another massive weird sense of unity.

This moment to enjoy this production notifies us of a pity this be his only one (official) release. No novelty nor innovative brilliance can be heard indeed but we can get freak out by their incredible atmospheric development with superb play and technique. Why can we ignore such an excellent obscurity?

For me this is one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard when it comes to the world of music and in particular Jazz/ Fusion. The Laser's Edge re-issued this one and in my opinion it's well worth quoting a lot of the liner notes provided. Hermann Szobel flew to New York City from his home in Vienna, Austria by himself as a sixteen year old. Walking into "The Hit Factory" he stated in broken English "My name is Hermann Szobel and I'm the greatest pianist you've ever heard." Everyone who was there was stunned by this brash statement and among those there were Roberta Flack and bassist Anthony Jackson. Of course they asked him to sit down at the piano and play. "Well, the stunned silence of disbelief before the performance turned to sheer amazement when everyone heard the music that was pouring forth from him."

His mission was to create complex instrumental music that no one had heard before, and to become a star doing it. Hermann was a big fan of WEATHER REPORT, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and FRANK ZAPPA but wanted to infuse that style with a European modernist sound, particularly that of Martial Solal, the brilliant French pianist whom he adored. They were able to get some incredibly talented people on board to play with him because after hearing some of his music they just wanted to be a part of this project. His music was so challenging, so technical and emotional. Russian Vadim Vyadro played sax and clarinet, Dave Samuels played vibes, marimba and percussion, Bob Goldman on drums and Michael Visceglia on bass. Clive Davis, President of Arista Records signed Hermann to his label and the band went to work practicing together, then some gigs were set up in clubs around New York City.

Legendary Producer Eddie Kramer who had worked with Hendrix was brought in to jump-start the process and the album was recorded at the "Record Plant" studios in 1975. One important fact I haven't mentioned yet is that his uncle was Bill Graham that legendary promoter who happened to be his mom's brother. Obviously that opened some doors as well. And how about that album cover with Hermann on it and that majestic building "The Flatiron Building" which was built in 1902. The building and the music are both timeless and marvels to see and hear.

Unfortunately Hermann was very demanding and brash and got into it with Clive and also his fellow musicians. He got impatient with playing clubs and after Clive gave him some career advise about being patient Hermann stood up and slammed his hand on Davis' desk and said "I will not! I want to open for the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA at Carnegie Hall! Nothing else will do. I will not play small clubs anymore." The bass player packed up and left after an altercation with Szobel and that was the last professional day for Hermann as Arista pulled the plug on the project and Szobel went back to Europe. As far as we know he quit music completely and lived off of an allowance his mom would send to him frequently until even she lost track of where he was. It is still unknown to this day where he is. What a story! What an album!

"Mr. Softee" opens with sparse piano melodies before a dark atmosphere arrives before a minute as the sax joins the piano. Suddenly outbursts of vibes start to come and go contrasted with the piano before drums and full sound arrive 2 minutes in. Love the drum work here as sax, piano and bass help out. The tempo continues to shift and check out the Funk before 4 1/2 minutes. The sax is ripping it up then more outbursts of vibes which brings Zappa to mind each time on this song.

"The Szuite" is the longest track at 12 1/2 minutes. And oh man check out the piano in the intro! Oh my! Drums and sax help out then we get a calm as the bass takes over with plenty of atmosphere. The sax kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes with drums then piano as it builds. Love the dissonant sax here. Another calm before 3 1/2 minutes then the sax returns after 4 minutes before it becomes chaotic with uptempo piano and drum work. Vibes follow then it kicks in hard. We get a calm with discordant piano after 5 minutes then the tempo picks up 7 minutes in as the drums and piano lead the way. Sax follows. How good is this! So impressive as they rip it up until another calm arrives after 8 1/2 minutes with piano only then the clarinet and bass join in. Love the section 9 1/2 minutes in as the drums arrive. A change before 11 minutes as it becomes uptempo and complex with sounds flying all over the place. So it seems. Piano to the fore at 12 minutes then it starts to wind down to the end.

"Between 7 & 11" opens with bass and it sounds amazing as drums and piano join in. This is jazzy and uptempo. What a display of talent right here. It settles down after a minute. It's piano only after 3 minutes but drums and bass kick in quickly as it becomes uptempo again. Sax will eventually join in as well. Man such a complex and impressive track.

"Transcendental Floss" opens with piano and drums as the sax joins in. Again this is uptempo and complex. A calm with sparse piano after 2 minutes. Relaxed sax joins in as well then drums and bass before 3 minutes. So good! I could listen to this on a loop. It will settle with piano after 5 1/2 minutes as the drums, sax and bass return quickly once again.

"New York City, 6 AM" is my favourite song on here. It opens with atmosphere and vibes in this experimental intro where sounds echo. A solo bass line arrives before 1 1/2 minutes and is repeated as the piano joins in along with clashing cymbals. I like how this is building. Reminds me of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA here. Clarinet after 4 minutes and it sounds amazing when it starts to cry out over the bass, drums and piano.

What else can I say but track this down! Yes it's complex but it's a warm complexity. I was surprised to see this under Avant here as for me this is Jazz/ Fusion 101, but to be fair while I was looking around at the many opinions I see that many mention Avant/ Jazz so what do I know. Haha.

HERMANN SZOBEL is a true musical enigma whose cult following as only grown big time since he released his one and only album SZOBEL in 1976 and then disappeared for time immemorial. Considered a child prodigy in his native Vienna, Austria, a six year SZOBEL spent the majority of his time practicing Chopin pieces. After some time he would also find inspiration in more contemporary artists like Marital Solal and Keith Jarrett but it was Frank Zappa who turned him onto the possibilities of jazz-fusion in a totally new paradigm and sent him off into a bizarre new world of fusionist's dreams.

By the age of 17, the enigmatic SZOBEL was commissioned to record an album and a team of seasoned jazz and classical musicians were assembled to help him accomplish this daunting task since SZOBEL was a bona vide virtuoso pianist who had constructed some of the most demanding and complex musical scores since that sound as if they are part jazz, part classical and part avant-prog chamber rock a la Henry Cow. The team included Michael Visceglia (bass), Bob Goldman (drums), Dave Samuels (percussion, marimba, Vibraphone) and Vadim Vyadro (tenor sax, clarinet, flute.)

The recording sessions were awkward as SZOBEL was eccentric, unpredictable and at least half the age of the other musicians on board so the whole process was deemed laborious and time consuming. However despite it all, SZOBEL managed to crank out one of the true under appreciated gems of the entire jazz-fusion stock of the 70s with his unique brand of jazzed up fusion. While SZOBEL's finger-melting piano antics are clearly the star of the show, the music was constructed to showcase a band experience and therefore every musician has time to explore the sonic textures that ooze out of every motif with gusto.

While primarily in the field of jazz, the subordinate genera of rock and classical conspire to create an intricately designed series of technical workouts. Generally speaking the tempos flutter around slowly with energetic explosions of virtuosic workouts displaying a wickedly cool contrast. It's almost as if the Weather Report suddenly flicked on the switch and became the Mahavishnu Orchestra during its most demanding moments. Decorated with suffocating polyrhythms and nuanced virtuosic stampedes of sound, SZOBEL is an album that both captures the zeitgeist of 70s jazz-fusion while steering the technical gymnastics into breathtaking performances more akin to some of Cecil Taylor's most outrageous works.

Completely an instrumental affair, the five tracks each exhibit a mysterious charm much like the teenage mastermind who crafted them. While the main jazzy elements give this SZOBEL album a clear connection to the 70s jazz-fusion sounds, the extra touches of the marimba and vibraphone add a warmth that is missing from much jazz and despite the music being focused on the technical workouts, the compositions are well balanced and crafted in clever nuanced ways that display SZOBEL's talents as a composer to be equal with his technical fury. Despite the roster of influences on board, SZOBEL managed to sound like a seasoned professional with a sound all its own on HERMANN's first (and only) album at the tender age of 17.

Despite a bright and promising career from one of the under-appreciated jazz heroes of the 70s, HERMANN SZOBEL suffered a nervous breakdown during the recording sessions and joined the short but notable list of musicians like Syd Barrett who at their prime suddenly retreated from the music scene and thrust themselves into hermitic isolation. In fact SZOBEL not only left the world of music as quickly as he entered it but seemed to disappear completely with nobody knowing where he went or what he has done all these years since. While rumored to live in Austria still, he has obviously completely reinvented himself and successfully escaped attention ever since which is a true shame because SZOBEL is one of the most delicately designed jazz-fusion albums i've ever come across. While this album was obscure even when it was released, like all slow burners, SZOBEL's one and only album has become a belated classic.

Review Nº 721

As happened with many European countries, in what I include mine, Portugal, Austria never was a real hot bed for the progressive rock music. From what I know, very few bands and artists were born in that country in the 70's. It comes to my mind a few names, such as, Eela Craig, Kyrie Eleison, Paternoster, Michael Mantler, Joe Zawinul and Rigoni & Schoenherz. And all these names never had much success and became obscure bands, even today. But, there's a name that I think deserves a special mention, due to the quality of his work and also due to his incredible story, already mentioned by my reviewer colleagues on Progarchives. I'm talking about the only album released by Hermann Szobel.

Hermann Szobel is an Austrian pianist and composer that was born in Vienna. Szobel had played the piano since the childhood and received a classical pianist training. In 1974 he settled in New York and formed an own band. In 1976 he recorded his first and only album named "Szobel". After that, Szobel gave a few concerts, but then fell out with management and fellow musicians, although a second album was already planned, and then largely disappeared from the music scene and world. It seems that in 1979, when Szobel was working on his second album, in the middle of a recording session, he had a mental breakdown and storms out of the studio. The album was never finished and Szobel completely disappeared. In 2001, Hermann's mother files a missing person report on her son. After several rumours about his whereabouts, from what I know, nobody knows where he is now, what could he be doing at the moment or if he is even still alive. In any case, he did'nt appear again musically. So, as I mentioned, this is really an incredible story.

Featuring five lengthy instrumental tracks, "Szobel" is quirky fun from start to finish features extremely complicated compositions with surprisingly memorable melodies tucked away within the zig-zagging overlay of intricate musical passages. The music is jazzy based but contains elements of rock and Western classical music. We can say that it's somewhere between the jazz fusion and the avant-garde progressive rock, evoking associations with the achievements of Frank Zappa, Henry Cow or Gentle Giant. As a rule, they're accompanied by sharp but melodic solos by the Latvian saxophonist, perfectly fitting into the aesthetics of ambitious varieties of the modern jazz. Szobel had some serious musical and compositional chops. His impressive piano virtuosity is noticeable throughout the album, with his uncanny piano runs weave around the soaring reeds of Vyadro, while the rhythm team pumps and pulse under everything else.

The line up on "Szobel" is Hermann Szobel (piano), Vadim Vyadro (tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute), Dave Samuels (percussion, marimba and vibraphone), Michael Visceglia ( bass guitar) and Bob Goldman (drums).

"Mr. Softee" impresses with the great harmony of musicians, perfectly cooperating with each other despite numerous rhythmic turbulences. Still, the musicians don't limit themselves only to showing their virtuosity, they also offer a bit of lyricism, mainly in the piano introduction, remember to outline the melody and the whole thing has a lot of energy. "The Szuite", can show even more creativity, virtuosity and sophistication, which is almost twice as long, in which there's more space, but there are also more intense moments. All the protagonists twirl deliriously around themselves with new rhythmic layers are constantly emerging. At times, this piece all comes close to approaching avant-garde and free-jazz. "Between 7 & 11" and "Transcendental Floss" are probably the most accessible pieces here. "Between 7 & 11" is a groove laden piece that shows a slow but powerful sounding presenting a band that knew how to create a memorable jazz-fusion with a dangerous edge. It contrasts with the speed sound on "Transcendental Floss" that contains serious passages, from squawking sax, to majestic piano, acrobatic drumming and soaring vibraphone. "New York City, 6 AM" stands out as the most atmospheric piece on the album. This is a perfect piece of music that conjures up so well the existential loneliness of walking New York's backstreets just before sunrise. It reminds me strongly the American film noir. This is a very intriguing piece and conclusion to the career of this genius who left the world of music so soon.

Conclusion: "Szobel" is truly a captivating, creative and sophisticated album, which is the complete opposite of the direction in which fusion was mixed at the time. In terms of workmanship, this is the absolute highest level that can be found in such a style, which, after all, requires considerable skill to be played. Obscurity and hype actually meet a field of musical creativity and instrumental-technical brilliance. Occasionally "Szobel" sounds a little like Zappa, but also has certain chamber prog moments. The music is powerful, airy and elegant, slightly skewed and very virtuosic. In addition to the master's brisk operation of the piano, the very versatile bass playing is particularly noteworthy. The music also has a certain character of its own, especially because of Szobel's classical piano playing. Szobel could have had a brilliant career, but perhaps the music biz just wasn't for him. At least he gave us this one gift before going off-grid.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

After reading Nick Mannion's intriguing review of this album (and phenomenon) last week, my curiosity was so piqued that I listened to the album on YouTube. Like everybody else, I was utterly blown away. So I went searching for more on the story of this artist, the making of this album, and, of course, the story of what happened to Hermann after he disappeared. When I stumbled upon the very recent YouTube interview of bassist Mike Visceglia (the last surviving member of the band that made this album with Hermann) as conducted by insightful (and passionate) YouTube reviewer (and drummer), Andy Edwards (ROBERT PLANT, IQ, MAGENTA, FROST*, RAIN, LEY LINES), I was, again, blown away. What an amazing story!

1. "Mr. Softee" (6:45) so much bombastic power in Hermann's piano play, but then you get these amazingly-inspired collaborators to join in--young artists who totally shared and committed to Hermann's vision--and who had worked together for months pounding away at these songs in order to perfect them to Hermann's liking--and you can't help but be impressed. There is some very strong jazz funk in the bones of this song but the influence of Frank Zappa is also definitely obvious as well as modern classical composers like John Cale (with whom bassist Mike Visceglia had already been working). Other free jazz and European jazz trends can also be heard. Too bad about the sudden fade out at the end; the song/jam obviously went on longer (and I for one would love to hear it) but I get it: you only have two 19-minute sides to work with. Excellent song and music: commanding the listener's attention in very much the same way Norwegian band SEVEN IMPALE did with their debut album, 2014's City of the Sun. (14.75/15)

2. "The Szuite" (12:30) a classically-styled and -constructed suite that definitely qualifies more for the neo-and pseudo-classical chamber type of music that Belgian/French bands Univers Zéro and, a little later, Présent would soon be doing. So many times as I listen to Hermann's piano play I feel as if I'm listening to the piano music or stylings of Franz Liszt or Sergei Rachmaninoff! After 90 seconds of brewing and bubbling the music bursts forth in a fullness with a very somber and serious yet melodic SEVEN IMPALE motif. (Of course I realize that my reference points are totally reversed since the band members of Seven Impale wouldn't even be born for another ten years or more. It's just what I know, here, now, in 2024, to compare this music to.) Lots of repetition of riffs for Dave Samuels to show off his prodigious talents on the tuned percussives, and then there is a rest period for the rest of the band while Hermann solos on his piano for about 11:24, very much carrying forward the ideas and melodies expressed by Dave's work during the previous minute or two. Here I am rather reminded of Keith Jarret's sound and work from his massively popular worldwide hit, The Köln Concert (an album that was released in January of this same year that Hermann and band were creating, perfecting, and, eventually, recording this album). When the other musicians rejoin I am more reminded of UZED again in some very complex, classically-oriented avant-garde music (which is masterfully composed and performed). These performances are just so tight, the composition so mature and perfect, it's really hard to find fault or flaw. Even if I don't always like the styles represented, here they're so good, so sensible and flowing (and, often, melodic--which is, unfortunately, important to me) that I do. I love this! (24.5/25)

3. "Between 7 & 11" (5:08) a song with big, funky, heavily-treated jazz bass that transpires with lots of syncopated, stop-and-go rhythmic elements coming from the careful, deliberate drums and percussion instruments, as well as that of Hermann's percussive piano. There is some kind of presence of an electric synth or treated percussive instrument flitting and floating around in the background of the opening couple of minutes. Then the song kind of restarts, with lots of staccato bursts and note play from the whole band as well as from Vadim Vyadro's tenor saxophone while Hermann fills the spaces between whole-band forays with impressively fluid piano runs and Rachmaninoff-like chord progressions. As the song develops both the speed and seem to compact and compress, culminating in more jazz-like soloing from Vlad's sax. Impressive if more mathematical song. (9.333333/10)

4. "Transcendental Floss" (6:08) This song is much more in line with some of the more rhythmically expressive jazz and jazz-rock artists of the time like McCoy Tyner and Tony Williams and Billy Cobham. Thank goodness for the presence (and talents) of such incredibly adaptive Jazz-Fusion artists like drummer Bob Goldman, funk bass player Mike Visceglia, and virtuosic vibraphone, marimba, and percussion player Dave Samuels (who had a long career as a vibraphonist/marimba player in the jazz/Latin music world) cuz there is some awesome funk going on here! as well as a very familiar SEVEN IMPALE vibe. Interesting final coda before the song finally cuts out. (Also SEVEN IMPALE-like) (9.5/10)

5. "New York City, 6 AM" (6:45) opens with some interestingly processed/treated/engineered percussion play--which cuts out after about 90 seconds whereupon Mike's deep, chunky "underwater" bass enters and leads the band into its slow, pensive, almost minimalistic weave. This is so rich! I love how all of the layers and instruments (and engineering effects) play with one another. The music may not be as sophisticated as the previous songs, but the construction and engineering are absolutely masterful! Definitely capturing an early morning big city vibe. The biggest problem with the ending of this song (and album) is that it leaves me starving for more! (14.5/15)

Total Time 37:16

I understand why so many people have trouble categorizing this music. I personally feel the music of this album is more Jazz-Rock Fusion (as Mike Visceglia and Andy Edwards elucidated: 1975 was the absolute peak for all possible combinations of existing musical traditions), but the piano play is definitely Avant Garde/RIO--the kind that bands like Univers Zero and Present would soon be exploring. The contrast in styles between Hermann's piano play and the lively and virtuosic jazz-rock play of the rest of the band is one of the things that makes the music so intriguing. After hearing the story about the headstrong personality of Mr. Szobel, I kept wondering how Hermann even allowed, much less was open to, this "jazz-rock dilution" of his music--if it had anything to do with the demands of Arista (his record company). But the more I heard about Hermann's demanding, controlling personality, I couldn't help but conclude that the eclectic cross-pollination represented in the album's music must have been fully idealized by its leader and composer. The fact that Mr. Visceglia so clearly claims to having spent "months" living in Hermann's Manhattan loft practicing these pieces attests to Hermann's shared passion for the product that resulted in Arista's 1976 release.

This music is so well performed (and recorded in single takes--with everyone playing live, together, in the recording studio, all at the same time!) that the listener can really tell how hard the musicians had worked to render it as perfectly as Hermann wished. Truly an incredible achievement of musical documentation!

A+/five stars; an unquestionable masterpiece of progressive rock fusion music. This is definitely one of finest studio albums I've ever heard (as well as one of the highest rated albums I've ever reviewed).