It's hard to imagine that Ellington ever scuffled for record contracts, but in the middle 1950's, he did. Bethlehem was a good, small jazz label that took him on for a few dates. The Bethlehem recordings, like this one, are not considered among Ellington's best, but I like them because Ellington recorded a larger variety of songs for Bethlehem than he did for the more established labels. Unfortunately, Bethlehem Records lasted only a few years before going broke. During their brief existence, however, they produced a large number of great jazz albums.