Miles Davis & Billie Holiday, New York City, 1958

On September 9, 1958, Columbia Records toasted its thriving jazz division with a party in the Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel which included performances by Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing and Duke Ellington. This informal, but candid Don Hunstein shot, eavesdrops on the coolest table in the room, where Lady Day and Miles Davis share a joke with the mythic jazz-blues singer Jimmy Rushing. The Jazz at the Plaza party marked the first time jazz had been performed at the deluxe New York hotel.