Barney and the Blue Note #[nn]

Loustal and Paringaux's *Barney and the Blue Note* opens with a cover that feels like a late-night mood caught in watercolor — a cool, shades-wearing saxophonist in a white tank top plays his horn against the glow of a Jazz Club sign reflected on rain-slicked streets below, cigarette dangling from his lips. Jacques de Loustal's painted linework gives the scene a smoky, cinematic atmosphere that sits somewhere between European bande dessinée and a vintage Blue Note album sleeve. For fans of jazz-soaked noir storytelling, this 1988 Rijperman release promises exactly the kind of style and soul its cover delivers.