Django Reinhardt is a pioneering jazz guitarist whose music is still revered by musicians and fans. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / William P. Gottlieb

San Antonio music school The Guitar Dojo is hosting a master class in “Gypsy Jazz” guitar, the style popularized by Romani jazz pioneer Django Reinhardt.

“Django Reinhardt: The Art of Guitar” hosted by renowned French guitarist Stephane Wrembel, will take place Friday, Jan. 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. before the musician takes the stage for two nearly sold-out shows at Pearl-complex supper club Jazz, TX later that evening.

Wrembel has shared the stage with legends including Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, The Roots, Medeski Martin & Wood, Me’shell Ndegeocello, John Scofield, Larry Keel, Stochelo Rosenberg and Sam Bush.

Hailing from Fontainebleau, France, just southeast of Paris, Wrembel specializes in Sinti guitar style, a form of “Gypsy Jazz.” The style is also known by its French name jazz manouche after the Manouche clan of Romanis in France, which is the clan Reinhardt descended from and grew up among.

With 19 albums under his belt using the pseudonym The Django Experiment, Wrembel celebrates and preserves this unique form of jazz throughout his body of work. He also hosts an annual celebration of the genre with his Django a Go Go Music Festival, a week-long event held between venues in New York and New Jersey, such as Carnegie Hall.

Additionally, Wrembel is an accomplished composer whose original music has featured in well-known films including Woody Allen’s 2011 comedy-fantasy Midnight in Paris, which went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack. Another original composition by Wrembel appeared in Allen’s 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

At the 2012 Academy Awards, Wrembel joined legendary film score composer Hans Zimmer onstage as a member of an all-star band also featuring Esperanza Spalding, Pharrell and Sheila E.

Wrembel recently released a triptych of three CDs titled Phase 1, 2 and 3 with French-Canadian improvisational pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, who once served as music director for Harry Belafonte. Pilc also has Django bonafides, having received the Django Reinhardt Prize from the French Jazz Academy in 2002.

Tickets to Wrembel’s two-hour intensive, “Django Reinhardt: The Art of Guitar,” are $75, available through Eventbrite. The Guitar Dojo is located at 5225 McCullough Avenue.

Wrembel plays two shows at Jazz, TX later that evening at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. and, as of press time, a few tickets are still available for $60 on the Jazz, TX website.

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This article appears in Dec 26, 2024 – Jan 1, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.