The Stanley Museum of Art’s lobby was packed with people eagerly awaiting a night of exhilarating jazz. Underneath the warm glow of the lights, a mural reflected in the windows behind them, the first of two trios took the stage.

The Ben Banta Trio consisted of Benjamin Banta on the tenor saxophone, Milo Savage-Webster on the drums, and Miles Kean on the upright bass. Banta is a third-year jazz studies major with a minor in business.

When he first came to the University of Iowa, Banta was in computer science and engineering, occasionally participating in the jazz ensemble. He shared that he became fully enamored with the jazz program and made the major switch. One of his favorite aspects of playing jazz was getting to interact with other musicians.

“Ideally, if you’re in a good space or creating [with] good people, you’re really listening to each other as much as you’re adding your own input,” Banta said.

With a start by Webster, the trio launched into the first song of the evening, an upbeat tune that had the audience instantly head-bobbing to its rhythms. Midway through the song, Banta stopped playing, stepping to the side to let the drums and bass carry the tune. This was not the last time he would do this.

One of the songs that the Banta trio played was “Lazy Bird” by renowned jazz artist John Coltrane. While the name implies a quiet, slow tune, the music was the exact opposite. The saxophone played like an energetic little bird, which quickly had the audience cheering and applauding.

After the Ben Banta trio concluded their final song, the second and final trio took the stage. The Mathuin Smith trio was led by saxophonist Mathuin Smith and consisted of Savage-Webster on the drums and Carson Parker playing the organ on an electric keyboard.

Smith shared he had been playing music from a young age, beginning with piano around the age of seven, before playing clarinet and then oboe. When he became an undergraduate in college, he majored in oboe performance. Smith shared that his favorite part of playing jazz was self-expression.

“It can almost be a little nerve-wracking, but also exciting where you’re delving into this territory that has not existed and will never exist after that song,” Smith said. “Because the beauty of jazz improvisation is that nothing ever happens the same way twice.”

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The trio opened their first song with wails from the saxophone, the organ and drums falling in behind it. The organ’s bouncy rhythms had the audience smiling and head-bobbing, filling the lobby with sound.

In a sharp contrast, the next song was a rhythmic tune from Brazil called “Corcovado” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The drums tapped out a Bossa-Nova groove as the organ and saxophone followed, which had audience members swaying. In this song, Parker played fast runs on the organ, bringing the Brazilian tune to an exhilarating finish.

For the encore of the performance, Smith invited Banta to play with him, and the two saxophonists played an upbeat tune in sync, accompanied by Parker on the organ and Savage-Webster on the drums.

Each saxophone player had their own solo, Banta playing a loud and energetic tune that had Smith cheering him on, and Smith performing a softer, fun tune after him. The musicians concluded their encore with a crashing finish, and the audience erupted into cheers and applause.

Attendee Devon Foster came to the concert with his friend Taygan Shilhanek. Foster shared he especially enjoyed the concert as a former tenor saxophonist.

“I love saxophone-centric jazz, and so both trios having that be the centerpoint was really cool,” Foster said.

Foster added that, as someone who came from a black church background, he enjoyed the organ music as well.

Shilhanek said she was in awe during the performance, entranced by the musicians’ facial expressions and how they got lost in their music. She said her takeaway from the performance was how it served as a reminder that jazz was not dead.

“I feel like there’s become such an oversaturation of pop music and the same thing, rinse, wash, repeat,” Shilhanek said, “There’s a lot of creativity and uniqueness to be found within these groups, and it’s exciting to see the community come out and enjoy it just as much as the next person.”