There is little previous documentation of Coltrane's brief stay in Monk's group. The 1957 album titled Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane includes just three tracks featuring the two; in 1993, Blue Note released a live recording of the group made with a handheld tape recorder, under the name Live at the Five Spot—Discovery!.

The new recording includes the Monk compositions "Monk's Mood," "Evidence," "Crepuscule With Nellie," "Nutt," "Epistrophy," "Bye-Ya," and "Blue Monk," as well as the standard "Sweet and Lovely" and an incomplete second performance of "Epistrophy."