Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio

Sathima Bea Benjamin persuaded Duke Ellington, in Zurich on a European tour, to hear the Dollar Brand Trio play at the Africana club in February 1963. Ellington arranged for the couple to fly to Paris and record separate albums for Reprise, the label for which he was acting as artists and repertoire man. The trio of Brand, the bassist Johnny Gertze and the drummer Makaya Ntshoko recorded this album in Paris on 23 February 1963. Benjamin's own session was left unissued for years and appeared later on Enja as A Morning in Paris.

The record helped Ibrahim build a following in Europe and the United States. One pressing credits Brilliant Corners to Brand, though it is a Thelonious Monk composition. Ibrahim said in 2024 that they never thought of Ellington as an African American but as a wise old man in the village. The Guardian reported in 2001 that Ellington told him he was blessed because he came from the source.