Founded in 1977 by Lionel Hampton, the Who's Who in Jazz label existed as a means to present to the world the best musicians that the jazz world had to offer. With Lionel chairing the recording sessions (and also featuring on several of the sessions himself), these recordings have truly earned their title featuring jazz greats such as Buddy Rich, Charles Mingus, Terumasa Hino, Sonny Stitt, Teddy Wilson, Stéphane Grappelli and Dave Brubeck, amidst the many others. Recorded in 1977 in New York City during a cross-city power outage, 'Blackout' sees Hampton invite Vinnie Bell (guitar), Roland Hanna (piano), Sam Turner (congas), Frank Wess (flute, saxophone), Janice Robinson (trombone) and Victor Paz (trumpet) to showcase an array of classic compositions including 'Twelfth Street Rag' and 'Birth of the Blues'.