A four hundred-page Thames & Hudson hardback stuffed with photographs? A coffee table book, you might think. And you would be right, since this is a history of the most famous label in jazz – with no discography. But it is gorgeous, full of great images, the design matches the label’s style, and the book tells Blue Note’s history well for the lay jazz fan. We get anodyne liner notes rather than critical reviews of the featured albums, and Richard Havers’s style is that of an amiable journeyman, writing the required book cheerfully and efficiently. Still, the great quality that journeymen have is briskness and efficiency with facts – a surprisingly rare skill.