Swinging Mr. Smith: Fantastic jazz night in the cultural bistro enchants!

Swinging Mr. Smith: Fantastic jazz night in the cultural bistro enchants!

On October 8, 2025, the Kulturbistro Münster-Sarmsheim experienced an exciting evening when the band “In Your Dreams” performed their concert as part of the event organized by the “KULTUR GANZ NAHE” association. The band leader Axel Schmitt, better known as “Swinging Mr. Smith”, led the audience through a colorful musical evening that was characterized by jazz, swing, bossa nova, blues and ballads. The opening of the evening began with the classic “Don’t get around much anymore” by Duke Ellington, followed by other hits such as “Tea for Two” and “Lady be good” by George Gershwin.

The artists were able to fall back on the impressive picturesque background of talented artists from the Bingen art space, who gave the event a very special atmosphere. The focus of the performance was not only the well -known standards, but also their own compositions by Axel Schmitt, which gave insights into his family life.

An impressive ensemble

The band's musical talent quickly spread in the audience: Thilo Wagner on the piano shone with his impressive keyboard technology, while Rudolf Stenzinger skillfully brought out the variety of sounds without amplifiers. Axel Schmitt himself, who accompanied the audience through the evening with his saxophone, brings the magic of the golden age of swing back to the floor. It was no wonder that the listeners were enthusiastic and asked for an encore. This was finally available with "Sweat Giorgia Brown", a classic over 100 years old.

This evening was not only a tribute to the great melodies, but also to the deep roots of jazz, which go back to the last decades of the 19th century. As described wikipedia, Jazz was created, especially in the USA, shaped by the influences of slavery and racial discrimination and roots in street music and brass bands. Since then, jazz has developed into one of the most important music genres of the 20th century.

The world of jazz standards

The fascination for jazz is still unbroken today. Swing, a central component of jazz, is particularly popular. This style has its place in the list of the 100 most important jazz standards, which includes masterpieces such as “All Of Me”, “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “Fly Me To The Moon”. These songs are timeless classics that are constantly reinterpreted and make the heart of every jazz lover beat faster. As Michael Sattler aptly notes, the various currents of jazz and the variety of melodies are part of its enduring appeal.

The swing era, which lasted from the 1920s to the 1940s, is considered the most successful period in the history of jazz. The big stars of this time such as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman made a decisive contribution to the spread and popularity of this genre. Such influences can be felt today in performances like those on “In Your Dreams,” showing that the tradition of jazz remains alive and relevant.

An evening full of music and culture in the Kulturbistro Münster-Sarmsheim - a truly successful evening that not only kept the roots of jazz alive, but also provided new impulses for the future musical landscape.