The Emerald Duets is a crowning achievement among Wadada Leo Smith's many recorded duo collaborations with drummers/percussionists, that have previously featured such creative giants as Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, Milford Graves, Louis Moholo-Moholo and Günter Sommer, among others.

The Emerald Duets features four master drummers who have each, in their own unique fashion, contributed to the way modern drumming has developed in the past six decades and how it is now perceived. Pheeroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille and Han Bennink are each featured on one disc and Jack DeJohnette on two discs, including Smith's five-part composition "Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains" that fills the fifth disc of this boxed set in its entirety.

The sessions with akLaff, Cyrille and DeJohnette mostly feature compositions by Wadada Leo Smith, including three very different versions of Smith's powerful statement for the protection of freedom and democracy, "The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy." The session with Bennink includes a combination of Smith's compositions and collectively created tracks.

Disc 1. Wadada Leo Smith & Pheeroan akLaff: Litanies, Prayers and Meditations
Disc 2. Wadada Leo Smith & Andrew Cyrille: Havana, Cuba
Disc 3. & Disc 4. Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette: Freedom Summer, the Legacy
Disc 5. Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette: Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains