Stephane Wrembel Django L'impressioniste

Matteo

Thanks! Sorry I missed that It must have been in a thread I didn't read.

wim

I've listened this morning and found the album really enjoyable. It's interesting to hear some Django compositions like the improvisation no 1 and 2 treated almost like a classical guitar composition. The guitar itself sounds great - you could throw 100 engineers at the Django recordings, and it could never be restored to crisp and clear like that (the information is already gone).

I have seen the French can be a bit on the negative side sometimes, it's strange. This playing is world class, even a connoisseur should concede that. It's almost as if there is jealousy.

If you sound too much like Django you are not original, if you don't sound enough like Django you're inferior. Well, I think Stephane is one of the few people alive who could do either!

MichaelHorowitz

I should probably chime in since I transcribed all these pieces and play them regularly. I always felt Django's solo pieces were largely overlooked, yet they are some of his most innovative and expressive work. Free from the confines of the swing genre, you can hear just how big his ears were and how extensive his knowledge of harmony was.

While I always figured Gypsy guitarists would appreciate having transcriptions of Django's solo work, I secretly hoped that maybe some of the pieces would be accepted into the classical repertoire. Over 15 years later, I can't say that has happened but I certainly have had a few classical guitarists purchase the book and perform the pieces. But what has happened is that Gypsy guitarists have taken this part of Django's output more seriously. Years back John Jorgenson had a concerto scored based on Improvisation #1 and now Stephane made this album which is great!

As far as "copying" Django and being a "clone", I think that criticism is ridiculous. As @Wim Glenn pointed out, there's no shortage of people doing new and innovative things with the genre (Stephane would be near the top of that list.) At the same time, it's great to have people playing the traditional canon of songs at a high level. It's all good!

criminel

I went and listened (I follow Buco's advice since he got me convinced on the Samy Daussat boxed sets). and once again Buco is right. I'm not a big fan of Wrembel but this is an excellent work.

geese_com

I think it is a great album. It is nice to hear the Django pieces recorded with modern day technology. Stephane's playing is superb as always. His interpretations were spot on. I was lucky enough to see him perform some of the pieces live a couple months ago in Milwaukee. Those performances were just awe inspiring.

scot

I'm with Buco, too. The pieces are played and captured perfectly with all the required dynamism and nuance. I wonder if there was an analog capture, too? Now if we can get him to record some of Henri Crolla's solo pieces...

Bones

I have not listened to this yet but I love Stephane's playing in general. He is very original and innovative but at the same time, as discussed here, he can follow Django's path as well. Great stuff!

dennis

Man... Stéphane was my first inspiration and the first "real" player I met almost 20 years ago. He's pretty much the one who got me started in the style. I'll never forget that! The recordings sound great!

PapsPier

I listened to it and I must say during the first tune, I was thinking "I dont really see the point, it sounds exactly like Django. But Django was improvising, so what is the point of recording this piece again?" But once you let the full album runs, you have the coherence of the project, the nice sound and it sounds like a classical recital, it is really pleasant.

But I must say that I was disappointed by the title: I was expected a new take from Stephane, not a recording of these pieces. (And I still prefer his own recordings rather than this one, even if it is a beautiful one too)

Jim Kaznosky

To each their own. I think a good lot of the pieces or sections of these are composed. If they are really all completely improvised, Django is an even greater human than I once thought. my point is that these are compositions now, because of the regard being held for Django. Had Stephane done something different, he'd get crap for that.

I remember when I was critical of some guitar piece when I was much younger and very vocal about it with an older musician around. He said "can you play it?" Now that should not be a measure of whether these pieces are great or not, but it's a factor. Jealousy indeed. Sit in front of him while he plays any of this stuff perfectly and tell me that is not impressive as hell.

Finally, the argument that this sounds too much like Django or this doesn't sound anything like Django is a waste of time.