In 1962 he lived in Stuttgart, Germany, where he spent five years playing with bassist Peter Witte and pianist Horst Jankowski in the SWR Big Band led by Erwin Lehn.

With Witte, between 1965 and 1967, he recorded five albums for the Romanian pianist Eugen Cicero, who combined classical music with jazz.

In 1976 he formed Charly Antolini's Jazz Power with Steve Hooks (tenor sax), Andrei Lobanov (trumpet), David Gazarov (keyboards).

In the 1980s he toured Germany, Italy, and Denmark with Benny Goodman,[2] as well as with Lionel Hampton, Barbara Dennerlein, Albert Mangelsdorff, Earl Hines, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Giuffre, Art Farmer, Oliver Nelson, Art Van Damme, Stuff Smith, and Baden Powell.

In the late 1980s-early 1990s he recorded four albums with British tenor saxophonist Dick Morrissey, three of which were live, and in 1994 he started the Super Trio with pianist Dirk Raufeisen and bassist Jimmy Woode.