This LP is a reissue of a great-sounding, one-time TV event. For a live one-hour national broadcast, the CBS network brought together 32 top jazz musicians of the swing era for a jam session that was to be the last in a series. The hour-long program aired live from CBS Studio 58 in New York City on Sunday, December 8, 1957. The show was hosted by the then very well-known TV critic John Crosby and produced by Robert Herridge. Musical consultants for the evening were Nat Hentoff and Whitney Balliett, two jazz critics.
A who’s who of the swing era is heard, including Count Basie, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Billie Holiday, Jo Jones and Coleman Hawkins, as well as younger musicians such as Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk and Jimmy Giuffre. Columbia Records released this album in 1958 – which actually depicts a rehearsal that preceded the television broadcast.
