Every epoch has had its group dances, and they have always been a source of inspiration to composers. In the interwar period, the Blues and Charleston meant as much to composers as the Sarabande and Gigue did to Johann Sebastian Bach and the Polonaise and Mazurka to Frédéric Chopin. The advent of American jazz and dance music in Europe was a gift from the gods for young composers hungry to find new paths and means of expression. Even though the word jazz meant little more than syncopated march and dance music based on ragtime, there was no stopping the rage. Jazz represented a radical break with the traditional, oldfashioned way of life of the nineteenth century, and made a wonderful match with the elated expectations that had replaced wartime suffering. Within just a few years, jazz fever swept across Europe. This CD bears witness.