When Julian (and his brother Nat) rocked up in New York's Greenwich Village in 1955, he appeared to be the right person, in the right place, at the right time: Bird had only been dead a few short months (March 1955). Despite desperate industry pressures, Cannonball distanced himself from the ‘New Bird’ tag and also efforts to get him to record a Bird tribute album. That said, on the Sharpshooters set he succumbs to surfin' bop standards ‘Our Delight’, ‘Straight No Chaser’ and such popular songs as ‘I'll Remember April’ which were commonly associated with the genre. Once the brothers had signed with EmArcy they were bundled into a studio and plonked down in front of various combinations from strings to working with some of the label's big hitters – Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. After a hectic 12 months it became obvious that the quintet format was the most satisfactory. And yet despite his high profile Cannonball was forced to disband through lack of regular work and so joined Miles. Over the years the brothers had an ear for great pianists and Junior Mance was the first in a dynasty that would also include Bobby Timmons, Victor Feldman and Joe Zawinul, which contributed to the group's artistic integrity and, thankfully, commercial success followed once the quintet reformed.