Throughout his long career as a bandleader, drummer Art Blakey very rarely played with big bands. This Bethlehem date was a one-shot affair, an opportunity for his powerful drumming to be heard propelling a 15-piece orchestra through a set of mostly new material. With such soloists as John Coltrane (who is also featured on two quintet numbers), trombonist Jimmy Cleveland and trumpeters Donald Byrd and Ray Copeland, this was a potentially mighty band; its arrangers included Melba Liston and Al Cohn.
