The album was recorded at theThéâtre antique de Vienne on July 1, 1991, the opening night of the Jazz à Vienne festival.[4] The set included interpretations of songs bypop musiciansMichael Jackson,Cyndi Lauper, andPrince. Davis died less than three months later, making this one of his final live performances.[5]
Reviews for the album have been largely positive. Writing forAllMusic, Thom Jurek noted "While none of this music is revelatory, it is intuitive and energetic," and described Davis's playing as "surprisingly muscular" despite the proximity to his death.[5]Tom Moon considered it a quality late-era performance in Davis's career, writing "Where some late Davis performances tended to wander, this one is all show-biz discipline" in hisJazzTimes review.[6] InAll About Jazz, Ian Patterson noted problems with the sound quality and mixing, but compared Davis's "brooding, melancholy and quite gorgeous" phrasing positively to his performance onAscenseur pour l'échafaud.[1]
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