This compilation recorded during the 1972 Heidelberg Jazz Festival is a wide-ranging sampler with individual selections by evelen European groups representing a potpourri of musical styles and directions.

From 1951 Erwin Lehn conducted one of Germany’s leading swing big bands, the Radio Stuttgart Dance Orchestra. The band included top names from the international jazz scene, including American trombonists Bob Burgess (Stan Kenton and Woody Herman bands) and Donald Beightol (Oliver Nelson), Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson (Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich Sextet), German Saxophonist Joki Freund (Albert Mangelsdorff, Hans Koller), and Dutch trumpet great Ack Van Rooyen. Composed by either band saxophonist Bernd Rabe or Lehn, the vibrant pieces cover a wide range of contemporary jazz.