Spreading the Gospel of Gypsy Jazz
The #1 purveyor in the world today of the sound of Quintette du Hot Club de France—the groundbreaking band that Belgian-born guitar pioneer Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli started in 1934—is Stephane Wrembel from Maplewood. It’s called Gypsy Jazz and it is, indeed, its own special genre.
On his latest album, he blurs genres yet again with his nonet on Django New Orleans II: Hors-Serie by contextualizing Gypsy Jazz with Louisiana lightning. The original “Jazz Manouche,” for instance, blended American swing with folkloric French traditionalism and the dance of the Romani people, a widely dispersed ethnic minority who led a nomadic lifestyle throughout Europe. Wrembel has recorded 21 albums and has taken this music to India, Nigeria, England, France and throughout the States. He’s collaborated with fellow genre-bender David Grisman, a jazz-grass pioneer. His annual Django a Gogo Music Festival is in its 22nd year.
Wrembel perfectly picked pals so the colors of his guitar, a second guitar, washboard/percussion, clarinet, soprano sax, trumpet, oud, tuba, fiddle, drums and vocals all coalesce into a joyous gumbo of delicious proportions.