Frank Kern

This giant 16-CD Galaxy set features Pepper at the peak of his powers. Most of the performances are in a quartet setting, although this collection also includes a session with strings, five unaccompanied alto solos (he also plays clarinet on a few tracks), and a pair of CDs in which Pepper performs duets with pianist George Cables. Although more general collectors may want to acquire some of the individual sessions first (most of which are available separately on CD), the more dedicated jazz fans are advised to save their money and acquire this essential package.

A fine post-bop improviser and alto saxman, Jim Snidero is a bit underrated but is well-appreciated by his fellow musicians. He attended the University of North Texas and moved to New York in 1981. Snidero toured and recorded with Jack McDuff, he's been a member of the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra since the mid-'80s, has worked with the backup bands of Frank Sinatra and Eddie Palmieri, and has spent time playing with the Frank Wess Sextet, the Mel Lewis Orchestra, and the Mingus Big Band. As a leader, Jim Snidero has recorded for the Japanese East World label (1984), Ken, Square Discs, Red, and Criss Cross. He has also recorded as a sideman with Brian Lynch, Conrad Herwig, and Tom Varner, and been active in jazz education both as a teacher and as an author of instructional books.

Ella Fitzgerald was still very much at the top of her game in 1969, when this appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was videotaped. Accompanied by the always swinging pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Frank DeLaRosa, and drummer Ed Thigpen, Fitzgerald works her magic with a number of favorites from her vast repertoire to the delight of her attentive audience, including "Give Me the Simple Life," "That Old Black Magic," and "I Won't Dance." But the singer was never one to stand pat with her song selection, so she was always looking at new material.

A real rarity from Hyperion’s Anglo-Australian artistic collaboration: music by an Australian composer who was once at the heart of the English establishment. Malcolm Williamson was one of many Australian creative artists who relocated to Britain in the mid-twentieth century. Within a decade of settling in London he had established a reputation as one of the most gifted and prolific composers of his generation. His stature as a leading figure within the British music scene was publicly acknowledged in 1975 when he was appointed to the esteemed post of Master of the Queen’s Music in succession to Sir Arthur Bliss. But today he is almost forgotten and his music virtually never performed.