STEPHANE WREMBEL
Guitarist Stéphane Wrembel will present the 2025 edition of his Django à Gogo Music Festival and Music Camp — an annual event since 2003, featuring music in the style of the great Romani-French guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt — May 6-11. Joining Wrembel as instructors and concert performers will be Mozes Rosenberg, David Gastine, Antoine Boyer, Frank Anastasio, Sam Farthing, Simba Baumgartner and Yeore Kim.
In a 2023 NJArts.net interview, Wrembel, who lives in Maplewood, called Reinhardt (1910-1953) “a genius, which is a very rare event of nature. It is the one that brings new archetypes and gives birth to a new archetype. … I’m not trying to copy Django; it’s impossible. I’m trying to learn from him and from these songs, to try to produce something that has a good swing.”
There will be workshops, classes and jam sessions at The Woodland in Maplewood; jam sessions at St James’s Gate Publick House in Maplewood; a May 11 farewell party/jam/concert at Barbès in Brooklyn; and the following concerts:
• “Django New Orleans,” May 7 at 8 p.m. at The Woodland. A fusion of Reinhardt’s music with traditional New Orleans brass and percussion. Featuring Wrembel and Josh Kaye on guitar, Adrien Chevalier on violin, Steven Duffy on sousaphone, David Langlois on percussion and washboard, Nick Driscoll on tenor saxophone and clarinet, Joe Boga on trumpet, Scott Kettner on drums, and Sarah King on vocals.
• “The Night of Gypsies,” May 8 at 8 p.m. at The Woodland. Featuring Baumgartner (Reinhardt’s great-grandson), Farthing (celebrating the release of his debut CD, Swing 25), Boyer, Wrembel and Gastine on guitar, with Anastasio on bass and Nick Anderson on drums.
• “Django à Gogo All Stars,” May 9 at 8 p.m. at Symphony Space, New York.
Set 1: Stephane Wrembel Band & Guests. Wrembel and Kaye on guitar, Ari Folman-Cohen on bass, Anderson on drums, with Rosenberg, Boyer, Gastine and Baumgartner on guitar, and Kim on harmonica.
Set 2: “Django New Orleans.” Same lineup as May 7 concert.
• Stephen Wrembel Band, May 10 at 8 p.m. at The Woodland. Featuring Wrembel and Kaye on guitar, Folman-Cohen on bass, Anderson on drums, Driscoll on woodwinds, and Aurore Voilqué on violin.
Note: Wrebel’s album Django New Orleans II: Hors Série, won’t be released until the fall, but advance copies of it will available at the May 7 and 9 shows.
For information, visit djangoagogo.com.
_______________________________
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
