· This special digipak edition collects together 19 rare sides from Oscar Pettiford’s debut recordings as leader in the early 1950’s - on Roost, Imperial, Debut & Bethlehem.
· featuring star line-ups of personnel including : Harry Babasin (cello), Julius Watkins (frh), Phil Urso, Charlie Rouse (ts), Billy Taylor, Arnold Ross, Walter Bishop, Duke Jordan (p), Charles Mingus, Joe Comfort (b), Charlie Smith, Alvin Stoller, Percy Brice, Ron Jefferson (d).
· Oscar Pettiford became a major factor on the jazz scene when in 1943 Charlie Barnet brought him from Minneapolis to New York as part of a two-bass team with Chubby Jackson.
· In the early Fifties he was internationally acclaimed not only as a phenomenal bassist & composer, but also as the first man to have made extensive use of the cello as a jazz solo vehicle. His work on cello with the various small groups he led since 1950 is now a matter of music history.