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Serge Chaloff

The baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff was born in Boston on November 24th 1923 to two classical pianists. His father was the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s pianist and his mother was a famous piano teacher at the Boston conservatory whose students include such musicians as Keith Jarrett and Dick Twardzik. Serge himself learned to play the piano first then the clarinet in his teens but switched to the baritone sax as an adult. His two major influences were Harry Carney and Charlie Parker. The former on his choice of instrument and the latter on his choice of genre: he was the first bop baritonist. He started his professional career in the big bands of the era first with Boyd Raeburn followed by Georgie Auld and Jimmy Dorsey. In 1946 he joined Woody Herman’s orchestra and became famous as one of the “Four Brothers” playing on Jimmy Giuffre’s immortal composition with Stan Getz Zoot Sims, and Herbie Stewart. Heroin addiction and his apparent disrespect for his boss caused him to leave the herd shortly after and join Count Basie’s band for a while. In 1947 he made his recording debut for Savoy backed by a group of Basie alumni. By 1949, however, he was heavily addicted to heroin and his drug-induced behavior had alienated most of his colleagues in the jazz community. He moved to New York and played with Bud Powell for a while. He returned to Boston in 1952 and recorded with Dick Twardzik a session that remains unreleased. He also started appearing on TV and leading the house band at a local club. He also started working on quitting his heroin habit, which succeeded in doing by 1954. He recorded two more sessions in Boston Fable for Mable and Boston Blow-Up! before relocating to Los Angeles in 1956. There he recorded his masterpiece Blue Serge but sadly around that time he was diagnosed with cancer of the spine which led to his demise on July 16th 1957 at the tragically young age of 33.

Various Artists: The Birth of Bop

Read "The Birth of Bop" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
May 3, 2023

Someone famously called jazz the sound of surprise, but all too often, what is on offer is the dull hum of routine. Or something like that. This historic reissue is, however, anything but routine. This is not the first time that Teddy Reig's Savoy sides have been reissued (was he also the mysterious Buck Ram listed as producing one track?), but Craft Recordings took a lot of trouble to produce this very fine selection. If a listener were, ...

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Album Review

Serge Chaloff: Boston Blow-Up!

Read "Boston Blow-Up!" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
May 15, 2006

Baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff lived a short, often ugly and painful life. A hard-line, nodding off, ankle-scratching junkie with bad personal hygiene problems, he died horribly at the age of 34. Yet he was a master of his cumbersome instrument and capable of creating music of extraordinary beauty.

Boston Blow-Up!, made in 1955 as part of bandleader Stan Kenton's “Kenton Presents" series, is one of Chaloff's finest recordings. In some ways it's better even than the iconic Blue Serge, made ...

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Album Review

Serge Chaloff: Blue Serge

by Reid Thompson
December 1, 2001

One of only four available CD's by the unjustly overlooked Serge Chaloff, Blue Serge is a gorgeous, shimmering masterpiece that leaves one wondering why the baritone sax wasn't used much more often. Chaloff's complete mastery of the instrument combines a wide range with precisely executed bop lines and tender and effusive renderings of ballads. His effective use of dynamics and vibrato pierce the hearts of tunes like “I've Got the World on a String" and “Stairway to the Stars." Although ...

Recording

Serge Chaloff: March 1947

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 17, 2015

Once Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Curley Russell, Max Roach and other black jazz musicians pioneered bebop and began recording the revolutionary style in 1945, other gifted jazz artists of the period quickly figured out the new language. Among the most exciting and proficient bop groups of 1947 was the short-lived Serge Chaloff Sextette. The group recorded four songs (enough for two 78s) and featured Red Rodney (tp), Earl Swope (tb), Serge Chaloff (bar), George Wallington (p), ...
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