Although aimed at the neophyte – and minus what the booklet introduction calls ‘rough sounds’ – this handy box set is far more than simply ‘jazz for beginners’. In fact, received and reviewed during the Covid-19 lockdown, it makes a for a welcomely distracting soundtrack encompassing many of the good and the great of the genre, one which even a seasoned listener would be hard put to fault.

There are plenty of warmly inviting things on offer for the newbie – Ella & Louis, Kind of Blue, Chet Baker Sings, Lady Sings the Blues – but don't be fooled; this is a set that also finds room for Coltrane's manifesto Giant Steps; Waltz For Debby, Bill Evans' blueprint for post-bop reharmonisation of the Great American Songbook, and a Thelonious Monk Prestige trio date that still sounds radical six decades after it was taped. If not exactly rough sounds, they retain their spontaneous and experimental edge.

It's also a set which serves another useful purpose for those otherwise confused by the present jumble of jazz identity – every single album here, indeed every featured headliner, is smack within the classic acoustic lore of the music. You'll find no vain attempts to ‘go pop’, no tacky fusion and no time-locked adventures in the avant-garde. In this regard – and especially given the current global crisis – this is the sort of collection you could easily toss in a time capsule, its every album capturing the halcyon long-playing era when the music truly came of age.