After recording six albums as a leader for the Prestige label between 1959 and 1961 (with such outstanding musicians as Kenny Dorham, Johnny Smith, Eric Dolphy, Roy Haynes, King Curtis and Jimmy Forrest), Nelson recorded his breakthrough LP The Blues and the Abstract Truth, on Impulse! The album featured jazz luminaries Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes, and contained the tune StolenMoments, now considered a standard. In fact, it had already been recorded by Nelson the previous year as The Stolen Moment on an album by the Eddie Lockjaw Davis big band titled Trane Whistle. Curiously, this early version (included here as a bonus track) also featured Eric Dolphy and Roy Haynes, as well as George Barrow, featured there playing tenor sax and flute instead of baritone sax.
