There are only a handful of musicians in the world who have mastered Django Reinhardt’s style of music to the degree of detail that Stephane Wrembel has. Django, the Gypsy jazz legend, is one of the most iconic figures of 20th century music. Wrembel has spent a lifelong journey studying and performing Django’s complete catalog of music.
Wrembel is a master jazz guitarist, Grammy-award winning composer, author, and notably the astute music impresario of the Django a Go-Go Festival and Guitar Camp. The New York Times wrote, “Perhaps the most creative improviser in Gypsy jazz today, Mr. Wrembel plays the guitar with a rich and colorful lyricism.”
His composition Bistro Fada was on the Grammy-winning soundtrack for Midnight In Paris, and was the theme song for this same 2011 Oscar winning film by director Woody Allen. He has also composed other pieces for Allen, including Big Brother for 2008’s Vicki Cristina Barcelona and contributed the original score for 2020’s Rifkin’s Festival. He is also the author of Getting into Gypsy Jazz published in 2004.
Early Years and Development
Wrembel was born in Paris but raised in Fontenbleau, France, the birthplace of Impressionism, and the city where Django passed away in the early 1950s. He studied classical piano beginning at age 4 at the behest of his mother, but never was really keen about the instrument. Still, he won two major competitions as a youngster, the Lucien Wurmser competition and at the National Conservatory of Aubervilliers. This would later all change when he first discovered and fell in love with the guitar at age 15. He would spend countless hours learning songs from his favorite rock bands, Pink Floyd, The Police, Led Zeppelin and early Genesis. He knew immediately the guitar was the instrument for him.
When I interviewed Wrembel in the Washington Square Diner in Greenwich Village, he told me that although he loved rock as a teenager, once he discovered Django’s music there was no turning back. He fell in love with the strong Impressionist feel.
Transition to Django’s Music
When he was 17 and attending the American School of Modern Music in Paris, Wrembel was introduced to Django’s music, and his entire world changed. He immersed himself in the Sinti culture (a Roma group from Western Europe, which Django was part of) spending six or seven years going to the guitar camps. When he was 19, he would play with other great Gypsy jazz players. Soon Wrembel made a local name for himself on the Gypsy jazz circuit. However, he was not satisfied.
Wrembel immigrated to the United States in the late 90s after being awarded a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. He graduated summa cum laude in 2002. That same year, he released his debut album.
While Wrembel was a student at Berklee, few knew who Django was. At this time, he found the organizer for a Django music festival in Boston, and offered to perform for free. However, the organizer turned him down. So Wrembel was determined to start his own Django festival, and knew he could do it much better.
GYPSY JAZZ GUITAR MASTER and Grammy-Award winner Stephane Wrembel performing at one of his many concerts. Photos by Kaju Roberto.
Django a Go-Go Music Festival and Guitar Camp
In 2003, Wrembel created his inaugural Django a Go-Go Music Festival in Maplewood, NJ, bringing together some of the finest musicians in the world to celebrate the Sinti guitar style. Soon he would secure prestigious events at Carnegie Hall, Joe’s Pub, and The Town Hall. The weeklong event, held in his hometown of Maplewood and NYC consisting of several live concerts in different venues, later expanded to Los Angelas, Canada, and beyond.
By 2017, in its 15th year, Wrembel realized his dream by adding a guitar camp to the festival where everyone from the most advanced players to early beginners could sign up for a reasonable weeklong conference fee and learn from the greatest jazz masters in the world. Truly a guitar player’s dream. Over the years, masters such as Angelo DeBarre, Simba Baumgartner (Django’s great-grandson), Josh Kaye, Al DiMeola, Stochelo Rosenberg, and Antoine Boyer have taught at Wrembel’s camps as well as performed at the festival.
Upcoming New York Shows
With Django a Go-Go now in its 23rd year in NYC, Wrembel has earned well-deserved accolades and reputation on many fronts. The shows at Dizzy’s 10/30-11/2 are with his 9-piece specialty group, Django New Orleans. Stephane will be celebrating the release of a new recording, Django New Orleans II: Hors-Série. If you love the music of Django Reinhardt, definitely try to make it to one of Stephane Wrembel’s upcoming Dizzy shows!
Read this article Stephane Wrembel: Gypsy Jazz Master, and Music Impresario where I originally wrote it in The Village View:
Check out my interview on YouTube with Stephane Wrembel.
For tickets to Stephane Wrembel shows: stephanewrembel.com
Kaju Roberto is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify