I've read a few of Ted Gioia's books about jazz and 20th C music, and they're uniformly excellent - very well-researched and very well written. I think The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire was my favourite - fascinating investigations into the stories behind 250+ jazz standards. Music: A Subversive History is also a great read. Also The History of Jazz etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Gioia

That's a good point, and I'd be happy to read his works on jazz. People can be great in their niche, and rambling when riffing on another topic.