The original album of eight tracks was Monk's first for the Columbia label, after being signed to work with producer Teo Macero. Whether it was the producer's choice or Monk's ingrained habit, the programme consisted partly of tunes he'd recorded up to a decade earlier (four of them in the recent Prestige box set). The exceptions were the slightly more recent ‘Blue Bolivar Blues’, another B-flat 12-bar (‘Five Spot Blues’), an unaccompanied version of ‘Body And Soul’ and the entirely new ‘Bright Mississippi’. The latter, on the chords of ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, is perhaps Monk's most minimal tune, with seven staccato notes in each four bars and always in the same rhythmic pattern. This unambitious repertoire shows Monk's continuing invention, the rhythm-section's strength and Rouse's potential weakness, which became exposed at greater length later. Bonus material, including the four original Prestige tracks plus the Brilliant Corners version of ‘Bolivar’, tends to overshadow the 1962 album which is officially being celebrated.