European Big band, lots of brass, bold violins. Combines American big-band swing with a more formal Euro/symphony sound, plus some off-the-wall add-ins by ECM regulars like Anouar Brahem (playing oud). Overall upbeat and fun, very accessible, although it gets cheesy in a few places.

Tracks 1-6 are a suite, as are 7-9 and 11-12.

1- Big happy flourish 2- Free-form muttering, then a perky set of solos. Cool. 3- Slowly grand themes, some cool fast soloing 4- Upbeat grooving 5- Rockin'... in a really cheesy way. Avoid. 6- Upbeat, goes on a wacky free tangent for a while

7, 8, 9 - Swinging little suite. 7 and 9 are mostly fast, with 9 featuring an electric guitar solo. 8 is a slinky midtempo with a good sax solo.

10- Sprited, short trio with oud and sax
11, 12 - Mostly slow and dramatic. Brassy
13- Warm and sentimenal. Not subtle.
14- Uptempo after a long slow intro. Very cool bass solo.
15- Quiet and nice