There was cool and then there was baritone saxist Serge Chaloff - the coolest of them all. Recorded for Capitol in 1956 on an album titled Blue Serge it's an eyeopener! Such laid back baritone playing. So relaxed, every note pertinent and meaningful yet not without florid displays of technique when he felt the occasion demanded it. When he plays the melody you know he's playing the melody and yet he isn't - not quite. The subtle variations of the composer's intent are sufficient to completely personalise it.
Sonny Clark (piano); Leroy Vinnegar (bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums) were a rhythm section described by Serge in the notes to the original album as "...what I felt was the best rhythm section around." They were most certainly that!
The tunes on the above YouTube clip (as listed below) are from The Complete Serge Chaloff Sessions, a four-disc Mosaic box set. They are in a different order to the original LP which didn't include How About You.
He lived a wild, chaotic, life fuelled by the usual substances leading to his early death on July 16, 1957 aged just 33. Lance
I've Got the World on a String; Thanks for the Memory; The Goof and I; Susie's Blues; A Handful of Stars; All the Things You Are; Stairway to the Stars; How About You?
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