Dave Brubeck's early reputation was based on recordings for Fantasy with his trio and, soon after, the quartet sides with Paul Desmond. However, the octet he was involved with from 1946 has never been given its proper due.

Desmond, trumpeter Dick Collins, tenor saxophonist Dave Van Kriedt, clarinetist Bill Smith, and Brubeck were heard in solo, but the emphasis is on the writing by Brubeck, Jack Weeks, and, particularly, the fugal inventions of Van Kriedt. Many of the writers involved, including, of course, Brubeck, were students of composer Darius Milhaud at the time.

Some of these pieces were recorded in 1946, three years before the Miles Davis Nonet, and certainly ahead of their time.