On November 15th, 2017 at 8:30pm, the Jazz Standard in New York City had a line around the block. Starting from the dual entrance of the Jazz Standard jazz club and Blue Smoke restaurant in the direct middle of East 27th Street, the line of people stretched almost to Lexington Avenue, nearly 300 feet. Just after 9:00pm, audience members from the earlier set began to be released. The faces included some of the most prominent members of the New York Jazz Scene as well as members of house bands for every talk show in town. After another twenty minutes, the line of people slowly moved through the two glass doors, past the entrance of Blue Smoke, and down into the bowels of the Jazz Standard. At a wooden desk featuring a glass case of memorabilia, each audience member was greeted by a host and asked if they have a reservation. After confirmation, the audience was led into the club. A long bar, already busy and without an open seat, was first seen. Following the hostess to the right, each ticket holder saw that the bar is only part of a cordoned off section with small tables for two that sit almost a foot above the walkway. In front of those tables lay the main seating area for the Jazz Standard; a wide-open floor with long twenty-foot tables lined on both sides with chairs, creating a sea of listeners in front of the slight raised stage. The basement club is scattered with pillars holding up the building above, making clear sight-lines rare and highly coveted by the listeners. All 150 seats were sold for the occasion. Anticipation mounted while the audience placed their drink and dinner orders while waiters hurried to the bar and kitchen. The stage, sitting six inches high, was covered with instruments that are occasionally checked on by the musicians coming out of the green room. For the younger members of the audience, a hushed tone permeated the venue whenever someone touches the stage. This feeling only intensified when the audience checked their phones to see that the show, in standard New York form, was running ten minutes behind schedule. The house lights dimmed, making the stage the lone beacon of light inside the otherwise deep red walled basement club. After asking that audience members silence their phones and keep their talking to a minimum, the manager of the venue released the sentence that they had been waiting to hear all night: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Jazz Standard is proud to present the Brian Blade Fellowship."

Following his bandmates/sidemen, Blade walked from backstage and to his instrument. His Fellowship was groundbreaking when it debuted in 1998. Jazz Times called their debut recording "a sumptuous impressionistic recording... Far from your usual debut disc." The Fellowship had not been active since 2014 and was celebrating the release of a highly anticipated new album. In the past, such praise and anticipation were reserved for the normal bandleader (pianist, saxophonists and trumpeters). But that night,