These little pieces for saxophone, largely unknown even to saxophonists since their composition in 1929, may be viewed in several ways. The composer, the mostly Leipzig-based Sigfrid Karg-Elert, termed them "in primary respects higher studies for the development of new paths in technique and expressive means" for the saxophone. But saxophonist Christian Peters argues for their wider expressive significance. He himself wrote the booklet notes, which include a good deal of interesting biographical information (he was born simply Sigfrid, or Siegfried, Karg, but was urged by teachers to append his mother's maiden name to his surname to deflect "Semitic suspicions").

One of the most infamously acrimonious musical unions transpired between two of the leading purveyors of West Coast cool jazz: Chet Baker (trumpet) and Stan Getz (tenor sax). Their paths crossed only a handful of times and West Coast Live captures two of their earliest encounters in Los Angeles at the Haig on June 12, 1953, and the Tiffany Club on August 17, 1953. These recordings have been issued in Europe and Japan ad infinitum in varying degrees of quality, completeness, and often sporting erroneous data. However, enthusiasts should note that West Coast Live is the only release derived from producer/engineer Dick Bock's own master reels. For two men who purportedly would rather not be in the same room at the same time, Baker and Getz are able to create some legitimately brilliant improvisation. For the Haig set, Getz had been brought in to co-lead a quartet with Baker for an incarcerated Gerry Mulligan.

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.

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 brilliantly devised CD from Gerard McChrystal is a deeply personal album; at times mystical, the music is always beautiful and captivating. Indeed 'Aria' has similar qualities to Jan Gabarek's 'Officium' (which sold 1.4 million copies) and will appeal to this fan-base. Featuring soprano and alto saxophone with a colourful array of different ensemble accompaniments — string orchestra, choir, guitar, piano, solo, string quartet and electronics. Baroque music blends seamlessly with contemporary; Handel resolves into Michael Nyman, Debussy's Syrinx morphs into Ravel's Piece en forme de habanera. All the tracks lead to the next by key or by starting and ending on the same note. Other works include Philip Glass Façades, Faure Les Berceaux, Bozza Aria, as well as original works by Billy Cowie, Karen Tanaka, Andy Scott and Michael McGlynn (from the vocal group Anúna who featured in Riverdance). Accompanying Gerard on this album are some of the UK's finest classical musicians including the Smith Quartet and the No. 1 best-selling classical artist, guitarist Craig Ogden. Gerard McChrystal is a multi-award winning saxophonist who has performed as a soloist in over 30 countries with many of the World's leading orchestras and ensembles.

Fausto Papetti was an Italian alto saxophone player. His recordings, sometimes under the pseudonym "Fausto Danieli", are also characterized by album art with sexy women posing half naked. His works have been widely well-known all over the world for the last six decades. He has played the majority of most famous world Hits and pop & jazz songs of 20th century, in 45 years of his career…

Conceived under the sign of the sun, this is a series of works for saxophone and orchestra by French composers with a special affinity for the Mediterranean, its atmosphere and culture(s). From Florent Schmitt’s Légende, with its Orientalistic inspiration, over the Provencal scenes of Paule Maurice to Ravel’s pavane for a dead Spanish princess (arranged by Tami Nodaira), the programme covers the entire length of the Mediterranean basin. Indeed, with the samba rhythms of Milhaud’s Scaramouche it even crosses the Atlantic, in accordance with that composer’s vision of an imaginary, ideal Provence, ‘stretching from Constantinople to Rio de Janeiro’.

Sonny left the music biz in the late '50s and early '60s, then returned with a triumphant series of LPs. Here are five of 'em: 1962's Our Man in Jazz (with the jaw-dropping epic Oleo ) and What's New? (he teams with Jim Hall on If Ever I Would Leave You and his own Bluesong ), 1963's storied meeting with Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Meets Hawk! (with thrilling excursions through standards like All the Things You Are and Yesterdays ) and 1964's Now's the Time and The Standard Sonny Rollins (both with Herbie Hancock)…

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.

Invented in Paris in 1846 by the Belgian-born Adolphe Sax, the saxophone was readily embraced by French composers who championed the new instrument through numerous ensemble and solo compositions. This tradition is celebrated in a programme, performed by the young and exciting Kenari Quartet, that explores the saxophone in all of its colours and sonorities, from Pierre Max Dubois’s light-hearted and jazz-inspired music to the lyrical and expressive world of Alfred Desenclos, and from Jean Françaix’s witty ‘bantering’ to the excitement and energy which closes Florent Schmitt’s Quatour, Op. 102.

On his several discs for BIS, the French saxophonist Claude Delangle has shown himself to be a hugely diverse musician: along with his recordings of core repertoire, he has recorded some of the earliest saxophone works, composed for the instrument’s inventor Adolphe Sax, as well as uncompromisingly contemporary music by composers such as Scelsi, Berio and Hosokawa. Here, Delangle visits Taiwan, and with the Taipei Chinese Orchestra playing traditional Chinese instruments, performs works including two saxophone concertos by the prominent Taiwanese composer Yiu-Kwong Chung (b.1956), as well as Open Secret, a work composed for Claude Delangle and the orchestra by the young composer Leilei Tian (b. 1971). This disc also includes arrangements of two traditional Chinese pieces, which in Claude Delangle’s own words formed a musical entryway for him ‘into the great tradition of Chinese music’.

Things that don't fit neatly into pigeonholes have always had a hard time, and so it has been with the saxophone; Hoffnung's string-tuba would have had very big problems. Sax was a tireless inventor: his plans for a monster canon, and a device for playing loud music from Parisian high ground never bore fruit, but the former anticipated Saddam Hussein and the latter, scaled down, is with us as Muzak. Though the saxophone has never found a regular place in the orchestra it has nevertheless captured the interest of a long line of composers; a square peg doesn't need to fit into any orchestral round hole when it is centre-stage.

Sony has packaged this album like a 1980s disc of music to snog by, but the saxophonist Amy Dickson’s new release is an intriguing and entirely serious collection of recent works by Australian composers, works she did much to create. The title work, premiered by Dickson in 2012, is a late score by Peter Sculthorpe. The first movement is sun drenched and full of yearning, the saxophone soaring over a teeming orchestra; the second is a more unsettled expression of homesickness. Ross Edwards’s concerto entitled the Full Moon Dances – recorded, unlike the rest, live in concert – is elegantly scored and evocative, especially in the opening Mantra, in which the saxophone interweaves with the orchestral soloists, and in the pulsing, almost Stravinsky-esque First Ritual Dance. But it is Brett Dean’s 2007 flute concerto The Siduri Dances, here arranged for saxophone, which offers the most wide-ranging demonstration of Dickson’s mastery with its note-bending, buzzing effects and hectic rhythms.