Serge Chaloff “Blue Serge” on Capitol (1956) with Sonny Clark, piano; Joe Jones (Philly Joe), drums; and Leroy Vinnegar, bass.  Titles include “How About You?”, “Handful Of Stars”, “The Goof & I”, “Susie’s Blues”, and “All The Things You Are”.  This is a classic record and a must for any serious jazz collection. His previous date as a leader is “Boston Blow-up” (1955) and that too is essential.

Baritone saxophone player Serge Chaloff was mostly known as one of the original Four Brothers (with Getz, Steward/Cohn, and Zoot Sims) in the Woody Herman big band.  Chaloff’s father was a concert pianist and his mother was a piano teacher to young prodigies like Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, even George Shearing.  Serge, like many of his contemporaries in the jazz world, wound up with terrible addictions to booze and heroin. Tragically he died at 33 in 1957.  “Blue Serge,” a tour-de-force, unrehearsed, “blowing session” was made just weeks before his partial paralysis due to spinal cancer.  I read that Serge intentionally toned down the studio lights during the sessions to give an intimate, atmospheric setting and he really swings his big horn with the support of this hip West Coast rhythm section.

(5 votes, average: 4.4 out of 5)

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