Want to buy a present for the alto saxophonist in your life? You could do no better than this, the second volume of Avid's collections of recordings by Art Pepper.

Indeed, covering the years 1952 to 1960, what you have here is effectively a walk-through of the great saxophonist's ‘early’ years, the decade in which he moved from elegant West Coaster, heard on such totemic pieces as ‘Chilli Pepper’ and, most famously, ‘Straight Life’, to being a player impossible to categorise, able to take any kind of composition, whether by Jerome Kern or Ornette Coleman and make it his own.

The four classics are: Surf Ride – a collection of early Savoy 78s with a truly period-feel cover: P¡us Eleven, on which he helms a team of top Hollywood-based talent through the compositional rapids of classic modern jazz (Monk, Gillespie, Mulligan, Parker et al); Gettin Together, the sequel to the iconic Meets The Rhythm Section, on which he says hello to Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, with added starter Conte Candoli. Finally, there's the moody Smack Up, which contains two of Pepper's most memorable solos of the era on the ballad ‘Maybe Next Year’ and Ornette Coleman's blues, ‘Tears Inside.’

With the headliner in top form throughout all four dates (he's heard on alto, tenor and clarinet), and brimming with riches from both the Great American and modern jazz songbooks, it's hard to single out highlights from this collection. Fortunately at this price you don't have to. Most recommended.