There is a long tradition of "saxophone battles" in jazz with duos such as Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray or Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane performing together in a kind of sporting joust of abilities, a gentleman's contest for who is the better player. On the 2012 concert album Friendly Fire: Live at Smoke, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring join in this tradition with a swinging, passionate set of standards recorded live at the respected N.Y.C. venue. The album is actually a re-pairing of the duo, who first sparred on 2005's Battle: Live at Smoke. This time around they spar over such numbers as Hank Mobley's "Pat 'N' Chat," McCoy Tyner's "Inception," the standard "You've Changed," as well as Herring's own "Timothy," among others. Backing the saxophonists here are pianist Mike LeDonne, bassist John Webber, and drummer Carl Allen. This is a lively and exciting session of adventurous and old-school straight-ahead jazz.

Al Cohn and Zoot Sims were lifelong friends who were frequent collaborators both in the studios and in clubs. Cohn only led four recording sessions (two for tiny labels) during 1963-74; all featured Sims. For their Sonet date, Al and Zoot are joined by pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Hugo Rasmussen and drummer Sven Erik Norregaard and they perform three standards, two Cohn songs and Jimmy McGriff's "Motoring Along." Zoot plays some effective soprano on "Yardbird Suite." As usual the two saxophonists mutually inspire each other on the cool-toned but frequently-heated bop date.

Deftly handling the alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone, bebop giant Sonny Stitt is heard to perfection here on a variety of early-'50s dates. Stitt not only shows off his patented speed throughout, but he goes a long way in dispelling criticisms of him being all fire and no grace. The 16-track disc kicks off with four tight, Latin-tinged swingers featuring an octet that includes trumpeter Joe Newman and timbales player Humberto Morales. Switching to piano quartet mode for the bulk of the disc, Stitt ranges effortlessly from frenetic blasts ("Cherokee") to golden-hued ballads ("Imagination"). Capping off the set with four bonus cuts featuring the likes of Gene Ammons and Junior Mance, Stitt delivers one of the top sets of performances from the late bebop era.

One of the great alto saxophonists, Cannonball Adderley had an exuberant and happy sound that communicated immediately to listeners. His intelligent presentation of his music (often explaining what he and his musicians were going to play) helped make him one of the most popular of all jazzmen.

The Gerry Mulligan Quartet of 1952-53 was one of the best-loved jazz groups of the decade and it made stars out of both the leader and trumpeter Chet Baker. Mulligan and Baker had very few reunions after 1953 but this particular CD from 1957 is an exception. Although not quite possessing the magic of the earlier group, the music is quite enjoyable and the interplay between the two horns is still special. With expert backup by bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Dave Bailey, these 13 selections (plus two new alternate takes) should please fans of both Mulligan and Baker.

Although it has come out on a budget label, these four performances (taken from concert appearances in 1978, 1980 and 1981) had never previously been released before. With support from either George Cables or Milcho Leviev on piano, David Williams or Bob Magnusson on bass and drummer Carl Burnett, the great altoist Art Pepper is in excellent form on an emotional "Kobe Blues," an intense version of "Patricia" and hard-swinging renditions of "Allen's Alley" and his own "Straight Life".

Stan Getz was invited to perform a concert with a local rhythm section in Warsaw, Poland, in 1960; he was sufficiently impressed with the trio to join them for a brief studio session afterwards. While this five-song set isn't flawless, as Getz has some problems with repeated reed squeaking in the rendition of "Cherokee," the all-standards program is otherwise very enjoyable, with excellent sound. Getz is in total control with the lush take of "Darn That Dream," as he makes a delayed entrance following pianist Andrzej Trzaskowski, who proves himself to be a thoughtful accompanist and soloist. Bassist Roman Dylag and drummer Andrzej Dabrowski also get high marks. This compilation is rounded out with two tracks from a 1974 concert in Warsaw by a working edition of the Stan Getz Quartet, with pianist Albert Dailey, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Billy Hart. The tenor saxophonist again gets a little sloppy with atypical reed squeaks in both tracks, which include an extended, exciting workout of Chick Corea's "La Fiesta" and an old favorite, Jobim's "Desafinado." Getz fans will definitely want to acquire this obscure Polish CD.

This collection provides a great value, especially if you total up the costs of each album separately. There are a few issues of which you should be aware. Sound quality is acceptable, but not spectacular. Audiophiles will hate these discs, but I assure you that they are listenable. More importantly, these are not cheesy 'needle drop' transfers from scratchy LPs. Plus these are from albums recorded in the late 1950s/early 1960s during an era when recording technology was rapidly improving. If you compare these to some of the albums to which I've linked below you will see that the ones in this collection do not have bonus tracks. In all cases you are getting tracks that were released on the original album. The six albums span four discs.

The third and final stop on the Billy Harper Quintet's Far Eastern recording road show brings them to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia and…well, maybe this one is the best single disc of the three. It's got the best sound, bright and well-balanced, and fans of extended jazz blowing will appreciate hearing three pieces (the shortest clocks in at just under 21 minutes) on a night when the musicians are really on and totally in synch with one another.

This series of live discs mark the first recordings of what became the regular working quintet of the criminally underrated saxophonist, composer and bandleader Billy Harper. With bassist Louie Spears the new addition to the line-up, three distinct concerts were recorded on Harper's spring, 1991 tour of the Far East and released separately without any duplication of material. Volume One comes from Pusan, Korea on April 27 and while the sound isn't the best – the bass and drums are muted and lack crispness – the extremely high quality of the music and interaction between the players more than compensates.

Recorded when he was 63, After Dark finds Hank Crawford excelling by sticking to what he does so well: uncomplicated, blues-drenched, gospel-minded soul-jazz. Warmth and accessibility continued to define the veteran alto saxophonist, who sounds like he's still very much in his prime on everything from "Amazing Grace" to W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" and the standard "T'aint Nobody's Business If I Do." Crawford reminds us how appealing and sentimental a ballad player can be on "That's All," and he demonstrates that Ruby & The Romantics' early-1960s soul-pop gem "Our Day Will Come" can work quite well in a jazz setting. The saxman's noteworthy support includes producer Bob Porter (who, true to form, is smart enough to step aside and let Crawford do his thing), guitarist Melvin Sparks and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. It's been said that Crawford is jazz's equivalent of a charismatic soul singer like Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye or his former employer Ray Charles, and After Dark makes it very hard to disagree with that assertion.

This second installment in the Classics Charlie Parker chronology contains quite a number of Bird's best-loved and most respected recordings. The first 12 tracks, recorded in New York for the Dial label in October and November of 1947, are all masterpieces of modern music, with the ballads, especially "Embraceable You," constituting some of Parker's very best recorded work. This is the classic 1947 quintet with Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach. Even if his personal life was characteristically chaotic, 1947 was a good year for Charlie Parker's music. It was in November 1947 that this band hit the road to play the El Sino Club on St. Antoine Boulevard in Detroit. Unfortunately, Bird got really snockered and couldn't perform, so the El Sino management canceled the gig. Bird ultimately destroyed his saxophone by throwing it out of a hotel window onto the street below. (A tragic and disturbing image!) Back in New York, the band – now a sextet with the addition of trombonist J.J. Johnson – made six more sides for Dial on December 17, 1947.