Effective period / Period of releases: 1977 - 1994

Members: Wolfgang Dauner, Dave King, Kenny Wheeler, Eberhard Weber, Volker Kriegel, Ian Carr, Charlie Mariano, Barbara Thompson, Albert Mangelsdorff, Jon Hiseman, Ack Van Rooyen, Johannes Faber, Christof Lauer, Peter O'Mara, Thorsten Benkenstein

Featuring jazz players from Germany and beyond the Ensemble began life in 1975. Pianist Wolfgang Dauner, initially recruiting musicians from his home base of Stuttgart (then a hotbed of avant-garde jazz), put together a rotating cast of musicians, and shared writing and arranging duties with guitarist Volker Kriegel. They recorded the first album under the United Jazz+Rock Ensemble name, Live im Schützenhaus, in 1977, to be released on the group's then founded Mood Records label. The album was a hit, eventually becoming the best-selling German jazz record of all times, and the Ensemble was awarded the "Deutscher Schallplattenpreis 1978" for artist of the year, followed by another 14 albums plus a variety of international collaborations.