Customer Reviews

Blue Serge (Reis)

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This must be one of the finest jazz albums of its era! Serge Chaloff, mostly known as one of the original Four Brothers and a heavily under-rated baritone saxophonist, did not live for long. His death at 33 was caused by spinal cancer, but happily he managed to leave the world this masterpiece before he left.

Chaloff's style comes straight out of bebop. There is a lot of Charlie Parker in his playing, cleverly transformed to match the sonority and range of the bigger horn. His playing is a bit rougher than, say, Gerry Mulligan's, more filled with the blues. Also, Chaloff liked playing fast, in addition to sweet, swinging, humorous, dynamic and original.

The recording is great! The sound is great! The band plays great, the rhythm section is truly inspired on this one! It just swings so hard! and Chaloff dances on top of the "groove" with his big, robust sax.

For anyone into jazz, this is a must in the collection. It's guaranteed to bring that smile across your face! And for those of you smiling already, buy, buy, buy! Life's too short to listen to anything but the truly greats!

nobody ever played the baritone saxophone like serge chaloff - the son of some of boston's leading classical musicians, he brought awesome technique to one of the most unwieldy instruments. The first part of his career, chaloff starred with woody herman's second herd - the junkie band - and was notorious as a ringleader - many held him responsible for the death of trumpeter sonny berman - musically, however, chaloff was untouchable and was #1 in jazz polls - after herman's band shut down, chaloff went back to boston - it took about five years for him to kick his habit. Cleaned up, more mature, he began playing at a whole new level - this album, recorded with a trio he'd never played with before, is amazing - every tune is terrific, on a technical level, you will probably never hear the baritone saxophone played better - like a mack truck doing wheelies. Capitol has re-released this classic album - and everyone I've played it for adds it to their favorite jazz album collection. Shortly after it was recorded, Chaloff became ill - he died in 1957 at the age of 33. Another reviewer wrote, "the rapport of the group is still astonishing. The net effect is of every note being in place, flawlessly executed, as if even the slightest nuance were carefully chosen for maximum aesthetic impact. This is a level of achievement beyond the aspirations of all but the masters, and from an ensemble that was not even a working group, takes on an aura of the miraculous. Such achievements are rare in any medium." Check it out. Bruce Bendinger

There aren't too many masters on the great horn (baritone sax, that is), but judging from this album, Serge Chaloff must have been one of them. Managing to sound different from those more well-known baritonists Pepper Adams and Gerry Mulligan, Chaloff blows hot and cool on this album recorded in Los Angeles, which (according to Chaloff's liner notes) was "a record just to blow". Blow he does, indeed ! Backed on this 1956 session by Sonny Clark on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums (all top-notch musicians in their own right), Chaloff smashes the then-popular distinction between West Coast and East Coast jazz. Chaloff never got together the kind of career Gerry Mulligan or even Pepper Adams had, largely due to his "personal problems" (jazz-talk for drug-addiction), which kept him away from the scene for a couple of years in the early 1950's. Worst of all, shortly after this album was recorded, an inoperable tumor caused Chaloff to end up in a wheelchair. Just a little over a year after this album was recorded, Serge Chaloff died aged 33. "Blue Serge" is a token of what could have been.

A now obscure figure, Chaloff was the first great Baritone Saxophonist and a pioneer of be-bop on the instrument. "Blue Serge", his final record, is also one of the greatest of all jazz recordings. In the studio with a great rhythm section led by Sonny Clark, this group of musicians that had not played with the leader before nor rehearsed the session make wonderful, wonderful music that shows the great strength of jazz improvisation - given a common palate of tunes and fluidity in the idiom, magic can happen. Chaloff is just ravishing to listen to; his tone has an enticing brittleness, and his style is nuanced, conversational, heavy on the use of dynamics and he always seems to be barely containing some intense explosion, to the great benefit of his playing. A must have.

should you spend another day without owning this. I urge you to buy this now, this is perfection on cd. Do yourself the biggest favour you've ever done and click on buy this now. Do it now before they're all gone!

I'd rank this one with the classic "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section" except, given the comparatively small recorded output by Chaloff, this session has to be elevated to an even more exclusive place among essential jazz recordings. Along with the earlier, recently reissued "Boston Blow-Up," "Blue Serge" is the meager evidence upon which Chaloff's legacy and reputation must rest, apart from his role as one of Woody Herman's "Four Brothers," arguably the most legendary saxophone section (with Getz, Steward/Cohn, and Zoot Sims) in the history of the music.

"Boston Blow-Up" demonstrated the extraordinary cohesion and rapport Chaloff was capable of as a member of a section, in which he's as integral, balanced, and tasteful as Duke's Harry Carney. On the other hand, "Blue Serge," made just weeks before his partial paralysis due to spinal cancer, is an unrehearsed meeting during which Serge's inventive melodic lines, various vibratos and articulations, wide dynamic range, and contrasting rhythmic passages--alternating lyric and dramatic styles--produce a tour de force that transcends virtually any other recording that might be described as a "blowing session." To any listener who doesn't require tight arrangements and short solo spots and who can appreciate the unrestrained mastery of a major improvisational artist for whom the baritone saxophone is as natural and expressive as the human voice, "Blue Serge" has to be given a slightly higher priority than "Boston Blow-Up."

One recording session does not make a player the best on his instrument, but it's sufficient for this listener, in any case, to proclaim Chaloff a player second to none. Just listen to his fluid and dazzling technique on the first two tunes--on which he plays with the smoothness and richness of Harry Carney combined with the swing of Mulligan and the monster post-Bird chops of Pepper Adams. Then dig the follow-up--a somewhat trite tune ("Thanks for the Memories") that Chaloff transforms into a multi-textured, fascinating ballad opus. The last tune, "How About You," was not even included on the original LP, yet it's as soulful and deeply felt as anything on this recording, easily the definitive instrumental version of this standard. The rhythm section--Philly Joe (despite the cover's misleading reference to him as "Joe Jones"), Sonny Clarke, and Leroy Vinnegar--was as hip as any on the West Coast.

I'm blown away by Chaloff's ability to play with a Paul Desmond lightness one moment, then with a Johnny Hodges lushness the next, then with Hawk-like growls and plosives, and finally with a bracing and resonant, foundation-building bass tone the next, suddenly filling the massive chambers of his big baritone horn with unexpected reserves of purposeful breath. I've never heard anything quite like Serge's solo on "I've Got the World on a String." One moment he's charming his mistress/horn with a seductive, alluring tone and the next he's wrestling it to the floor, kicking, boxing, scraping and jabbing until he's got everything under control.

Serge was apparently the black sheep in his family. With a father who was a concert pianist and a mother who was a piano teacher to young prodigies (Hancock, Jarrett, Corea, even Shearing), Serge wound up with terrible addictions to booze and heroin--and an outlandish horn that he played with as much brilliance and striking originality as Charlie Parker did the miniature version. In fact, Serge reversed all priorities, fathering and bringing so much respect to black sheep that the rest of us can only be eternally grateful he didn't wind up in white wool.

The profound sound from Serge Chaloff's baritone was an uncensored sermon - at once raucous, silken, raw, evanescent, and tender. He carries on in roaring torrents naturally tempered with nonchalant world-on-a-string swing. Serge
stands apart from the other bop era baritonists in his use of the full range of the horn. The natural poised-on-breaking fragility of the high tones only deepens the color of his low tones. His exquisite ballad rendering of "Thanks For the Memories" is only topped by his previous, unequaled "Body and Soul" off of the currently unavailable "Boston Blow-Up".
"Blue Serge" is the best all-round recording of Chaloff's tragically brief career: favored by the knock-out rhythm section of Sonny Clark on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Philly Joe Jones who was Miles Davis' drummer of choice 'round this time. Serge intentionally toned down the studio lights during the sessions to give an intimate, atmospheric setting. Put on "Blue Serge" and you are there. Too much!

For a long time I was frustrated as a bari player. Gerry Mulligan just didn't do it for me. Serge Chaloff, on the other hand, is one bad mofo. This is definitely the type of sound I've been looking for. This is a really great album. Every note sounds perfect, and Philly Joe Jones is such a great drummer. Nobody else swings that hard.

The sound of the baritone saxophone is nothing like that of its siblings. Its smoky, often fragile timbre demands a special effort from the player to define the edges of the sound. Chaloff was the master of the instrument. His phrasing -emotional, fragmented, visceral- was as distinctive as his sound.

This is a beautiful record, one I don't play frequently enough. It's also a relative rarity (re-released very recently); few people know anything about Chaloff or about Blue Serge. Sonny Clark is at the height of his powers and plays lucidly throughout, contributing lines and runs quivering with spontaneous melodic invention. If you want someone to fall in love with jazz, this is what you should play them.

What a sound! Over the album, Chaloff concentrates more on the gorgeous rich sound of the baritone than trying to furiously run through notes. The result is inventive bebop, and a reminder of just how classy this music can be when done well. The group are so responsive to each other they seem almost telepathic. Clark in particular is fabulous, his bluesy runs providing a perfect foil for Chaloff. In summary, this is a wonderful album - buy it!