Three storming horns surging baritone, booting alto, and a pummeling trumpet—plus three rhythm go to make up a new sextet from Boston. In a spirited concert of fresh music ten tunes scored with the Forward Look are played with a zip that looks back to the happy days of early jazz. Serge Chaloff of the hawk-like profile and booming big-horn gained fame as end man to the Four Brothers in the Woody Herman Herd that featured that fabulous foursome Boots Mussulli, probably the most popular altoist that Kenton ever had, is a Kenton Presents star on his own. Having gained his first attention in a later Kenton band, Herb Pomeroy offers trumpet work that is assured and properly earthy, and between them, he and Boots chart nine of these ten selections. The rhythm team is composed of the pick of the Capes current crop.

“Great conception and execution, good taste, clean tone and Bird-like style…” Leonard Feather now of Down Beat, has said of Serge Chaloff. Thirty-one and Boston-born, Chaloff has long been recognized as one of the four or five chief soloists on his horn. How long is indicated by the fact that Feather’s praise was written over six years ago. But for several years before that and up until recently Serge was a victim of personal troubles that gradually dropped him into obscurity. Now, after nine years of what he himself calls “living hell” he has come out of the hospital a whole man again, determined to blow his way back to the top; this is his musical announcement of that intention. He is writing a book about his experience which he hopes will help others with similar difficulties, but in the meantime, as far as the musical evidence of his recovery is concerned, this album stands as sound testimony. The following comments deal with the tunes in their playing order; they are accompanied by some comments by the leader himself.

BOB THE ROBIN—Sunny and guileless as a Sunday breakfast, the opener moves out boldly, punctuated with little exclamation points of piano from Ray Santisi, a fellow who figures on the Boots item in this series. The song salutes a DJ called “The Robin” on Boston’s WUDA; Bob Martin is a close friend who saw Serge through his tribulations.

Serge: “I suppose an early interest in music was pretty much inevitable when you consider my father played piano with the Boston Symphony and my mother taught at the New England Conservatory: I took lessons on piano and clarinet but I taught myself baritone.

“At first I listened to Harry Carney and Jack Washington, the baritone men with Duke and Count. That’s how I formed my first style. But it was an alto man, the great Charlie Parker, whose work made me change my style.

“In 1945 the new jazz was still pretty strange to everybody; I worked on developing my approach to it all through George Auld’s and Jimmy Dorsey’s bands. What evolved is the style I became identified with when I went on Woody’s band in 1947.”

YESTERDAY’S GARDENIAS—Pomeroy qualifies as an expert flower arranger with this punchy big band-sounding opening, and the staccato no-monkey-business handling of the figure. Serge is at first coy, then contemplative, and everybody behaves himself well right through co some sober-faced piano. There is a nice use of dynamics in the final chorus and this has the best ensemble feel of the sides.

SERGICAL—Edgar Allen Poe could have had a hand in this almost frighteningly programmatic opus where, weird and mournful, the piano walks, as is his wont, above the others and a bustle of white-masked preparation is sensed. But the trumpet hints at release, and apprehension ends abruptly as soloing begins. In a keen-edged but confident mood, Serge emerges a new man, alternately punching and caressing the line. A delightful embrace heralds Botts’s best solo of the date. This was the first chart in the new book of music.

WHAT’S NEW?—Serge cries the question in chanticleer tones, rises in soft and breathy flight through the understatement. At one point he exhibits what is probably the widest vibrato on record; at another he weaves one long tumbling phrase that startles with its beauty. Quiet hymn-like humming from the horns and lightly sketched piano sustain him until with a light cadenza Serge settles easily to earth. Ballads are his forte.

MAR-DROS—After his talky little figure, Boots leads off. A swirling, churning interlude leads into herb in a gay and easy frame of mind. A brash, Serge indulges in a whimsical salute to some contemporaries and to Rampart Street; Santisi picks it up in the same mood. Eight bars go to Jimmy Zitano, whose drums swing lightly throughout; finally there is a happy, barrelhouse ending. This was named for a friend who drives Boots to rehearsals.

JR.—Here’s a brisk and twinkling little song in which the trumpet seems about to go into “The Sailor’s Hornpipe.” Serge continues to leap, in his engaging way, from a whisper to a full shout without warning. Everett Evans’s bass is best heard and felt on this one. “Jr.” is a nod from the group to “a warm little man who’s been a guiding force in the development of jazz.

BODY AND SOUL—Serge opens with a great gruff honk; then after some dramatic gestures, wanders through the old changes, sometimes delicate and breathy, sometimes loud and brassy. At the last, in the Pagliacci-like cadenza, the studio is so quiet one can hear the thumping of the pads on the big horn. This is far and away Serge’s best; it would seem genuinely emotionally inspired; certainly it has emotional appeal. Friend Martin says, “Serge’s entire tortuous trip comes brutally alive in the wails of woe, and his comeback is reflected in the thankful, pensive ending.

Serge: “When I came back on the music scene, just recently, I wanted a book of fresh sounding things. I got just what I wanted from Herb and Boots. I think their writing shows us as a happy group trying to create new musical entertainment by swinging all the time.

“Jazz has got to swing; if it doesn’t, it Loses its feeling of expression. This group and these sides are about the happiest things I’ve been involved with. You can’t imagine what a thrill it is to be playing again with wonderful musicians, and know that everything is swinging in a healthy groove.”

KIP—Boots writes a rather ambitious tune in which the horns gather to shuffle in an elfish dance, with Santist playing tag in the foothills in his high and funny way. Kip provides bedrock for some biting choruses.

DIANE’S MELODY—A tiny strip in this expanse of music, this little track should nonetheless garner its full share of attention. Calm yet anxious, this modern, lonely vignette by Worcester composer Jaki Byard is a modest harmonic adventure.

UNISON—This clippity, argumentative little tune seems to be trying to announce something; then suddenly, triumphantly, it does. Zitano snaps off the time with vigor. Here is the best swinging feel of the set. There is an agitated lecture from Serge, some shouted asides of ensemble writing, and everybody solos with a certain spirit and facility. When the gavel raps this final discussion, the vote is unanimous: a successful venture, an energetic program of jazz.

Chaloff has shown rare strength in conquering his intense personal problems and now stands free to conquer new fields with his horn. This second battle should prove far easier. Loyal fans from the past offer a solid nucleus for a new following. In these fast-moving times, jazz listeners are sharply divided over styles and schools, but these new samples of the surging Chaloff baritone should show that Serge still suits most everybody.

— Will Mac Farland