The 29-year-old Jay Jay (later J.J.) Johnson temporarily retired from full-time music in 1953, but this album is partly credited with his return to become one of the greatest jazz trombonists. Trumpeter Clifford Brown was even younger than Johnson at the time of the recording. The entire rhythm section – John Lewis, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke – had already begun building the Modern Jazz Quartet brand (with Milt Jackson), and the saxophonist Jimmy Heath is Percy's younger brother. Johnson is able to articulate every emotional register on his difficult instrument, and Heath was just breaking free from the compulsion to imitate Charlie Parker while transitioning from alto to tenor and baritone, while Brown pours out breathtaking runs with a youthful exuberance. In the MAO adaptation, Kornél Fekete-Kovács will invoke Brown, Mátyás Papp will evoke Johnson, and Kristóf Bacsó will play the tenor sax part.