Rediscovering a Baritone Jazz Gem: Serge Chaloff’s Blue Serge Gets the Tone Poet Treatment

Release Date: June 6, 2025
Format: 180g Mono Vinyl (Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Series)

Jazz fans, collectors, and audiophiles alike will want to take note: Blue Serge, the essential 1956 recording from baritone saxophone great Serge Chaloff, is receiving a deluxe reissue as part of Blue Note's celebrated Tone Poet Vinyl Series.

Though often overlooked in the pantheon of bebop legends, Chaloff was a pioneering voice on the baritone sax—agile, lyrical, and deeply expressive. A Boston native and early member of Woody Herman’s iconic “Four Brothers” saxophone section alongside Stan Getz and Zoot Sims, Chaloff’s career was marked by both brilliance and instability. But in 1954, following personal setbacks, he returned to the studio with a renewed fire, producing two landmark records for Capitol: Boston Blow-Up! and Blue Serge.

Blue Serge is widely regarded as Chaloff’s defining work. Recorded with a crack quartet featuring Sonny Clark (piano), Leroy Vinnegar (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums), the album is a masterclass in cool, cohesive interplay. The 7-track set includes timeless standards like “A Handful of Stars” and “All The Things You Are,” as well as Chaloff’s own composition, “Susie’s Blues.”

This Tone Poet Edition brings the album to life in stunning fidelity. Mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc., and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket, this is the definitive version of Blue Serge—a high watermark for both jazz reissues and audiophile listening.

Tracklist

Side A

1. A Handful Of Stars

2. The Goof And I

3. Thanks For The Memory

4. All The Things You Are

Side B

1. I've Got The World On A String

2. Susie’s Blues

3. Stairway To The Stars