New releases last four weeks: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Boston-born baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff was an early bebop innovator who delivered his defining work with Blue Serge in 1956. He was admired for his lyrical agility on an often unwieldy instrument and apparently overcame some personal struggles to record this standout session for Capitol Records, which finds him backed by jazz greats Sonny Clark on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Philly Joe Jones on sticks. The album features a simmering, relaxed set of standards, including 'A Handful of Stars' and 'All the Things You Are' plus his own 'Susie's Blues.' Blue Serge is a timeless testament to Chaloff's unique sounds and a gem of West Coast cool.

Review: Bashed out in no time at all, Andrew Hill's Andrew!!! drew on an astonishing creative upsurge enjoyed by many a musician in the early 1960s, which proved fortuitous for the pianist's storied early-career Blue Note run. Captured in 1964 with a distinctive quintet including John Gilmore, Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis, and Joe Chambers, this de facto debut showcases Hill's singular compositional voice across six dense, exploratory originals like 'The Griots' and 'Black Monday'; while his earlier Point Of Departure tends to attract the spotlight, Andrew!!! colours between the lines in a different shade. But like the former, it no less now benefits from BN's Joe Harley's audiophiliac oversight, preserving the subtle textures and telepathic interplay that define Hill's gauche-adroit playing.

Review: American saxophonist Joshua Redman returns with a new quartet featuring pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo i a group formed during touring dates following his previous Blue Note debut. The eight new compositions were written during the pandemic and reflect a more subdued register, with pieces often built around modal phrasing and pared-back forms. 'A Message to Unsend' and 'So It Goes' open the set with slow, measured arrangements that favour tone over speed. 'Words Fall Short' and 'Borrowed Eyes' continue in that vein, trading solo space across saxophone and piano without crowding the frame. 'Icarus' introduces more movement and sharper shifts, while 'Over the Jelly-Green Sky' pushes into freer rhythmic interplay without abandoning the central theme. 'She Knows' and 'Era's End' close the set with a return to stillness, the final track pairing Redman with guest vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa. Additional appearances from saxophonist Melissa Aldana and trumpeter Skylar Tang are folded in without disruption. It's a restrained but focused studio outing, shaped by clarity, not excess.