A fantastic look at the underground world of jazz record bars in Tokyo – served up here in a stunning array of full color photographs that showcase dozens of spots! The book is a great document of the "jazz kissa" – small bars where the owner is a lover of music, has a huge jazz record collection, and pours out drinks while spinning records in a very intimate, laidback space! Most of these club have stunning sound systems – often pictured in the book – and they are tiny, with just a few seats for drinkers/listeners – which makes the experience of enjoying a classic jazz record there feel even more unique. There's a bit of text, but most of the hardcover volume is full color photographs – presented in beautiful artbook style. Book

One of the most lavish, loving books on hip hop that we've ever seen – a huge volume that manages to be a history of rap music, a photo book, a guide to key albums, and also a personal journey as well – all served up with a vivid, non-stop array of images that make the whole thing even more of a visual delight than digging in the crates! The volume is huge – stuffed with over 1000 images, most in color – photos of album covers, street art, hip hop DJs and MCs, and countless other subjects – all presented in loose chronological order, alongside a history and evolution of the music, plus a timeline of key records and moments – all guided by some personal reflections by the author as well. Chuck D gives the book some huge props in the intro – and this updated volume is a heavy 446 pages, in a softcover edition, filled with images throughout. Book

An overstuffed edition of the Goldmine Jazz Price Guide – filled with great information! First off – forget the prices in this one, because we hate price guides, and we don't suggest that they actually have any correspondence to the real world – because people buy records at all different prices, for different reasons. HOWEVER, this is a great little book filled with useful data on jazz releases – and we find it to be an excellent resource when we need to look up details of work by specific artists – maybe more like a discography than an actual guide to pricing records. The book does have some holes and mistakes – but there's a heck of a lot of useful information in here, especially if you have questions like "What year did that come out?", "What label was that on?", "Which record was first in his career?" We're surprised at how many listings we can find for key albums – and the book's especially helpful for figuring out releases that seem to have a sly history of reappearing on the market! There's also a helpful section on different jazz labels and pressings, and the book is 506 pages, softcover, with lots of black and white illustrations – and listings for over 40,000 titles! Book