Jazz in NYC: Stephane Wrembel, Guitar with Jean-Michel Pilc, Piano at Joe’s Pub, Oct 2019

Jazz in NYC: Stephane Wrembel, Guitar with Jean-Michel Pilc, Piano at Joe’s Pub, Oct 2019

Guitarist Stephane Wrembel and his band return to Joe’s Pub to present new jazz program Django/Debussy with a highly original and innovative pianist Jean-Michel Pilc; only two performances on October 11-12, 2019

Virtuoso guitarist Stephane Wrembel and his band, well known among Jazz Manouche aficionados for their devotion to the oeuvre of the legendary Django Reinhardt, team up with a very special guest Jean-Michel Pilc, piano for two nights of sophisticated and unpredictable music that the musicians are known for.

Django’s celebrated melodies immediately bring to mind fun times at a smoky French café full of happy musicians and cheerful crowds. Wrembel and his band are notorious in recreating the atmosphere. Pilc, a Paris born and self-taught pianist recognized for the depth of interpretation and virtuosity, complements the freewheeling style of gypsy melodies with mysterious piano passages.

Wrembel and his guests are very familiar to New York audiences for the Django-a-Gogo annual guitar festival, Django New Orleans, the most recent appearance here at Joe’s Pub in mid-June 2019 and other engagements in town. Jean-Michel Pilc performs regularly in New York City and is a recognized educator with faculty engagements at NYU, the New School and currently at The Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal.

Reserve your seats for the performances at Joe’s Pub on October 11-12, 2019 here. 

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Born and raised in France in Paris and Fontainebleau, Wrembel started playing classical piano from age 4. In his bio he points out that from early on his music education was about interpreting and phrasing. When he discovered the music of Django and immersed himself in the Gypsy culture, it changed his life. In his own words by “playing and playing and playing you become entranced.” Perhaps this is what makes it feel like the music just comes by itself when he plays with his group.

Django Reinhardt was a Belgian-born Roma jazz guitarist and composer whose family belonged to Sinti-Manouche Central European gypsy group. Self-educated in playing banjo and guitar, he was the first jazz talent to emerge from Europe in the 30th. With Stephane Grappelli, he formed the Paris-based Quintette du Hot Club de France which
became a sensation and a magnet for the European and American musicians and fans. His gypsy jazz standard Nuages was an unofficial anthem of the French resistance during WWII. The admiration for Django’s style and music has its place in Sweet and Lowdown, 1999 film by Woody Allen which features a Django-like character and many of his original songs.

In 2004 soon after moving to New York, Wrembel started a small festival Django-a-GOGO dedicated to the “eternal” music of Django Reinhardt. By now the festival includes concerts, workshops, and even a music camp. Wrembel, who has his own group of close collaborators such as Thor Jensen, guitar, Ari Folman-Cohen, bass and Nick Anderson, drums, invites the best in class guitarists from all over the world. Last year concerts featured the appearances by Stochelo Rosenberg, Simba Baumgartner (Reinhardt’s grandson), Paulus Schafer, Pierre “Kamlo” Barré, Sara L’Abriola, and Olli Soikkeli, with Daisy Castro on violin.

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Well known now by his celebrated track “Bistro Fada” from Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris soundtrack, Wrembel keeps adding to his discography. In 2017 he released 2 new discs The Django Experiment I and II, and in 2018 he is adding part III to this series. So it’s not coincidental that The New York Times calls him “the most creative improviser in Gypsy jazz today”. This is probably why Allen had also used another of Wrembel’s tracks “Big Brother” in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Praised for his improvisations, pianist and composer Jean-Michel Pilc has performed with numerous jazz giants including Roy Haynes, Billy Hart, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Jean Toussaint, Marcus Miller, John Abercrombie, and the Mingus Dynasty & Big Band, among others. He worked with Harry Belafonte as his musical director and pianist and performed a duet with the legendary opera singer Jessye Norman.

An active solo performer on the international scene, Pilc has released four critically-acclaimed solo piano records: Follow Me (2004), Essential (2011), What Is This Thing Called? (2015), and his most recent solo double CD, Parallel (2018). He regularly performs in a trio with Montreal and NYC-based ensembles at top venues throughout both cities.

A dedicated pedagogue, Pilc founded the Improvisation Workshop Project with Rémi Bolduc, Kevin Dean and Jean-Nicolas Trottier, an educational research project funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC). In September 2015, he was named Associate Professor at The Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal.

With Wrembel and Pilc, the performances at Joe’s Pub features Thor Jensen, guitar, Ari Folman-Cohen, bass, Nick Driscoll, sax/clarinet/bass clarinet, and Nick Anderson, drums.

 

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Dates: October 11-12, 2019, doors at 6 pm, music at 7 pm

Venue: Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003