Time Out New York wrote that the latter “shows off Wrembel’s limber chops in a variety of settings, including ebullient French Gypsy swing, moody ballads, sultry raga-influenced numbers and a lithe cover of Mongo Santamaria’s ‘Afro Blue.’” Oscar-winning director Woody Allen used one of the album’s tracks, “Big Brother,” in his 2008 film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Wrembel’s fourth album, Terre Des Hommes, was released the same year.
Both Gypsy Rumble (2005), which includes mandolin legend David Grisman among its guests, and 2006’s Barbes-Brooklyn found favor with critics. Before long, word of this remarkable European transplant began spreading among fellow musicians and denizens of the teeming New York music scene. Vintage Guitar Magazine praised the recording as “pure dazzle and dash, a stunning storm of notes that blankets the melody in a rain of arpeggiated notes.” In 2002, he released his debut album, Introducing Stephane Wrembel. Wrembel enrolled in Berklee College of Music in 2000 in Boston and graduated summa cum laude two years later. All of these influences come together as a genre identifiable only as Stephane Wrembel. While heavily influenced by Reinhardt, Wrembel’s music incorporates jazz, blues, classical, swing, flamenco and rock. Without the culture, something is missing.”Īnd while Wrembel is now considered one of the preeminent master guitarists in the world specialized in the Django Reinhardt style, he avoids the label “Gypsy Jazz” commonly used for Reinhardt’s music. That’s how you learn this music, because it's a specific to a culture. I learned from the masters, from Angelo Debarre and Serge Krief, and I played in the campsites a lot. “By going there I started learning the atmosphere of what it really means to play Sinti-style guitar. Not a Gypsy himself, Wrembel immersed himself in Sinti culture, spending “six, seven years going to the camps, playing for Gypsy weddings, parties, playing with Gypsy friends,” he said. Reinhardt was a Sinti (a Roma group from Western Europe) and his style was rooted in Sinti music. I fell in love with the very strong impressionist feel in his music.” “So I had a classical background, a passion for rock music, and then I found out about Django. A Pink Floyd fan, he “spent hours learning David Gilmour’s style,” he said. But in his mid-teens, he discovered that he had an affinity for guitar. The Gitane guitar company has even named a model after him.īorn in Paris and raised in Fontainebleau, the home of Impressionism and Django Reinhardt, Wrembel first studied classical piano, beginning at the age of four. In 2003, Wrembel created his own annual event, Django A Gogo Festival, where he and others influenced by Reinhardt celebrate the Sinti guitar style. He has toured Canada, France, Israel, UK, India and Nigeria. Wrembel has dazzled audiences at such major gatherings as the Montreal Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Django Reinhardt Festival in France, Ellnora-The Guitar Festival, Caramoor Jazz Festival presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center and many others. Wrembel has headlined Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall in NYC and The Lyon Opera House in France, toured with master violinist Mark O’Connor and shared stages with everyone from Sam Bush, Stochelo Rosenberg, Esperanza Spalding, and Al Di Meola. David Fricke at Rolling Stone Magazine called him “a revelation.” This prolific musician from France has been releasing a steady stream of music since 2002 and has truly made his mark as one of the most original guitar voices in contemporary music. The breadth and range of his playing and compositions are unmatched. Stephane Wrembel is quite simply one of the finest guitar players in the world.
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