New York, NY – Award-winning guitarist STEPHANE WREMBEL will release The Django Experiment V on his own Water is Life Records on January 23, 2020, the 110th anniversary of the birth of legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt, long considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20^th century.  Les Paul said of Reinhardt, “He was the greatest guitarist in my mind. I’d do anything to play as great as he did.”

Stephane Wrembel is one considered of the preeminent master guitarists in the world specialized in the Reinhardt style.  Born in Paris and raised in Fontainebleau, the home of Impressionism and Django Reinhardt, Wrembel began playing guitar in his mid-teens. A Pink Floyd fan, he “spent hours learning David Gilmour’s style,” he said. “So I had a classical background in piano, a passion for rock music, and then I found out about Django. I fell in love with the very strong impressionist feel in his music.” Wrembel’s breakthrough came with his original composition “Bistro Fada,” a Django-influenced swinging waltz that was the theme song for Woody Allen’s 2011 Oscar-winning film, “Midnight In Paris.” Since then, Wrembel has released five discs dedicated to Reinhardt (The Django Experiment Vol. I-IV and Live at Rochester) and recently produced the debut CD by Simba Baumgartner, Django’s great-grandson. His Django A Gogo festival, launched in 2004, has become one of the world’s most important and influential events, which includes an intensive music camp, celebrating and expanding Reinhardt’s music.

In October of 2019, Wrembel released Django L’Impressionniste putting the spotlight on 17 little-known solo pieces Reinhardt recorded between 1937 and 1950. Wrembel is the first interpreter who has performed all of these solo pieces and collected them in one definitive masterwork.  It is available digitally and on double-vinyl with liner notes by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke. The New York CD release show for Django L’Impressionniste is Thursday, November 21st at 7:30 p.m. at FIAF Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59^th St., New York, N.Y.,10022.  Tickets are $30-$45. For more information visit FIAF.org.

As with the previous “experiments,” The Django Experiment V was recorded and mastered by Eric Ritter at The Windmill Recording Studio in Scranton, Pa., with Wrembel and his world-class band performing live, with no headphones or tracking, in a setting conducive to improvisation with each musician pushing their own boundaries to evoke new interpretations of Reinhardt’s music as well as songs by other jazz and gypsy jazz composers. Wrembel’s band includes long-time collaborators Thor Jensen (guitar), Ari Folman Cohen (bass), Nick Anderson (drums), and special guest Nick Driscoll on saxophone and clarinet. For Volume V, Wrembel brought in the burgeoning young violinist, Daisy Castro, who brings a bit of whimsy to the mix.

Wrembel feels this is his strongest “experiment” thus far. He comments, “First of all, it comes after the release of Django l’impressionniste that I recorded after months of memorization and practice. Then, besides the usual crew I invited Daisy Castro, one of the greatest violinists of our time, who is specialized in all improvised music, to join in on the fun. The album starts with the Impressionist touch…Django’s ‘Improvisation #1’ and ‘Nympheas’…and travels through the sounds of a more classic Django swing vibe to end up in an invocation of New York City’s voodoo spirit with the apocalyptic version of Ellington’s ‘Caravan.’ For me, these experiments are a never-ending journey.”

The Django Experiment V track listing:

1-Improvisation # 1 (Django Reinhardt)

2-Nympheas (Django Reinhardt)

3-Honeysuckle Rose (Fats Waller)

4-La Manouche (Tony Murena)

5-Daphne (Django Reinhardt)

6-I’m Confessin’ That I Love You (Chris Smith)

7-Dinah (Harry Akst)

8-Nuages (Django Reinhardt)

9-Caravan (Juan Tizol/Duke Ellington)

Wrembel has several more recordings planned for 2020. In the meantime, he and his band will continue to tour behind the release of The Django Experiment V as he prepares for Django A Gogo 2020.  The confirmed tour dates thus far are as follows with all dates subject to change.

Thurs, Nov 21–Florence Gould Hall–New York, NY

Thurs, Dec 5–Symphony Space–New York, NY

Sat, Jan 25—la Samoisienne—Samois-sur-Seine, France

Wed, Jan 29–Opera de Lyon–Lyon, France

Sat, Feb 29–Regattabar–Cambridge, MA

Tues, May 5-8–Django a Gogo 2020–The Woodlands–Maplewood, NJ

Sat, May 9–Django a Gogo 2020–Town Hall, New York, NY

For more information:

stephanewrembel.com

djangoagogo.com

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