The one-hour program aired on Sunday, December 8, 1957, live from CBS Studio 58, the Town Theater at 851 Ninth Avenue in New York City.

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The show was hosted by New York Herald Tribune media critic John Crosby, directed by Jack Smight, and produced by Robert Herridge.

The Sound of Jazz features performances by musicians from the swing era, including Count Basie, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Billie Holiday, Jo Jones, and Coleman Hawkins; Chicago-style players of the same era, such as Henry "Red" Allen, Vic Dickenson, and Pee Wee Russell; and modern jazz musicians such as Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, and Jimmy Giuffre.

Jazz critic Nat Hentoff recalled that during rehearsals Holiday and Young kept to opposite sides of the room.

Young was very weak, and Hentoff told him to skip the big band section of the show and that he could sit while performing in the group with Holiday.