 Among the events referenced, directly or indirectly, were the 1956 student riots in Greece in which stones were thrown at the US Embassy, which dissipated following performances by Dizzy Gillespie; Louis Armstrong's 1956 visit to Ghana as the guest of Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah; and Armstrong's dispute with the Eisenhower Administration and President Eisenhower personally over the handling of the 1957 Central High School Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas.The musical's soundtrack album was recorded in September and December 1961 in the Columbia Records recording studio on 30th Street in New York City, and was released the following year.It was produced by Teo Macero.