Engelbert Wrobel was born on November 19, 1959 and caused a sensation as a ten-year-old with his talent as clarinetist in the brass band of his hometown before he became interested in traditional jazz. The foundation of the Happy Jazzmen, his first school band, was not long in coming. With this band, "Engel" - as his friends call him - won the first prize at „Jugend jazzt“. He was already offered a place in Rod Mason´s Hot Five during his studies of the classical clarinet at the Musikhochschule Düsseldorf. With Rod Mason’s Hot Five, he gained three and a half years of touring experience throughout Europe before founding his own Swing Society in 1989.  Engelbert’s playing is characterized by his full sound and a brilliant technique. He is a multi-instrumentalist who knows how to play each of his instruments in the proper style and, through years of studying classic jazz and swing, he has synthesized the distinctive qualities of his various role models into his own musical language. On the clarinet, the influences of Benny Goodman, Barney Bigard and Edmond Hall cannot be ignored; on the tenor saxophone, Ben Webster, Arnett Cobb and Coleman Hawkins are his main influences. His style on the alto is deeply rooted in the tradition of Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges, and is clearly present in his playing on the soprano saxophone.