[1] Up to that point she went by her birth name Marguerite Johnson, or by the name Rita, but at the strong suggestion of her managers and supporters, she changed her professional name to "Maya Angelou", a "distinctive name" that set her apart and captured the feel of her calypso dance performances.

[2] During 1954 and 1955 Angelou toured 22 countries, mostly in Europe, with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess, which she describes in her third autobiography, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976).

By February 1956 she was touring with her own new show, an exotic calypso act which played at the Keyboard in Beverly Hills, where she was "wooed by disk executives", according to Billboard.

[3][4][5] She headlined at the Village Vanguard in March, gigged for four weeks at the Clouds in Honolulu in July–August, and joined the Lester Horton dancers for a Halloween show at the Palladium.

According to Chuck Foster, who wrote the liner notes in the album's 1995 reissue, her calypso music career is "given short shrift" and dismissed in the book.

[16] Richie Unterberger of AllMusic described the album's cover as featuring Angelou "draped in a slip of a red dress, gyrating next to a fire in the middle of a (almost definitely fake) jungle".

Billboard's review of the album said, "[Although] calypso addicts will question the authenticity of this package, Miss Angelou has enough sell in her voice to offer dealers a promising set.

Stef, the Variety reviewer, called Angelou's act "sizzling" and a "unique creation in the jazz world when everything progressive is expected to be on the cool side".

[19][20] Spector, also in the album's 1957 liner notes, reported on another of Angelou's concerts in the Beverly Hills nightclub The Keyboard, when she performed many of the songs on Miss Calypso.

[22] Spector characterized Angelou's music as "calypso style with a liberal sprinkling of Afro-Cuban, and a dash of blues mixed together with delicate jazz".

He described the album's genre as having "Jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Odetta-style folk", with "gospel and blues voicings and Belafonte-influenced Caribbean flavors".

[14] He thought that Angelou brought out the best in the calypso standards "Peas and Rice" and "Run Joe", but that she reached her peak with "Scandal in the Family", all of which he found as authentic as the songs she wrote.