In 1958, the Brubeck Quartet undertook an exhausting tour, first in Europe and then, sponsored by the US State Department, to Poland, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. It would provide him with the inspiration for several compositions, four of which he tried out at George Wein's Midwest Jazz Festival in French Lick, Indiana, on 17 August 1958. They would find their way onto Jazz Impressions of Eurasia, recorded six days later: ‘Nomad’, ‘Dziękuję’ (Thank You'), ‘The Golden Horn’ and ‘Brandenburg Gate’. These new tunes are played here with aplomb and conviction, which is no doubt why they were carried forward to the recordings session, with ‘Dziękuję’ (Thank You') Brubeck's touching, spontaneously conceived Chopinesque melody played on his last date in Poland in Poznan, to thank the Poles for the tumultuous welcome they had extended to him. Brubeck's Indiana set concludes with a drum-heavy Morello feature, ‘Sounds of the Loop’, from Jazz Impressions of the USA.

Despite the album's title, there are actually more bonus tracks (six) from other sources, five from the Newport Jazz Festival of 1960 when they played music from Time Out, Gone With the Wind, The Southern Scene and Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein, while the final track, ‘Take Five’, was recorded live in New York in 1961.