[3] Recorded on January 13, 1956, the quartet also featured Jo Jones, an innovative and influential jazz drummer,[4] and bassist Gene Ramey.

The group had also played together the previous day along with Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson and Freddie Green, recording the similarly acclaimed The Jazz Giants '56.

[5] Wilson was in 1956 steadily producing both solo and group albums, having only recently stopped teaching music at Juilliard.

[7] But while Young's playing throughout the 50s was often hampered by his excessive drinking, [8] on this occasion, according to Yanow, he returned to "classic form".

[10] In 1994, The New York Times listed the album as among 10 of the "high points" of music produced by Norman Granz, who founded the Verve label, describing it as "a magnificent set of standards".