Based on an idea by Mel Howard and conceived by Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia, it consists of songs by artists such as W. C. Handy, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake, and Big Maybelle and skits peppered with bits of bawdy humor.

Directed by Orezzoli and Segovia and choreographed by Henry LeTang, Cholly Atkins, Frankie Manning, and Fayard Nicholas the cast of forty-one singers, dancers, and musicians included Ruth Brown, Linda Hopkins, Carrie Smith, Savion Glover, Claude Williams, Roland Hanna, Grady Tate, Jimmy Slyde, Bill Easley, Buster Brown (tap dancer),Jimmy "Preacher" Robbins, Lon Chaney (the jazz tap dancer, not the actor) and Bunny Briggs.

Dianne Walker was the show's curator and sustainer of the choreography and stage direction, as well as a featured dancer.

In 1990, LaVern Baker made her Broadway debut, replacing Ruth Brown for the last eight months of the run.

This is a slightly reduced edition of Altman's February 1991 taping at the Minskoff Theater, sold as a pay-per-view in Japan.