By Ed Enright | Published December 2025
Django New Orleans is guitarist Stephane Wrembel’s nine-piece special edition ensemble consisting of some of New York’s top jazz musicians, including Josh Kaye (guitar), Dion Berardo (guitar), David Langlois (washboard/percussion), Nick Driscoll (clarinet/soprano saxophone), Joe Boga (trumpet), Steven Duffy (tuba/sousaphone), Adrien Chevalier (violin), Scott Kettner (drums) and Sarah King (vocals). The group made its debut in November 2021 with eight shows at Dizzy’s Club in New York and shared its swing-to-second-line jubilation with the rest of the world on the acclaimed 2023 recording Django New Orleans. Now, with the release of Django New Orleans II: Hors-Série, Wremble and company continue to forge meaningful connections between the joyful party groove of New Orleans brass band culture with the fiery Gypsy spirit of Reinhardt’s Jazz Manouche. The 10-track recording includes fresh renditions of classic repertoire like Edith Piaf’s torch song “La Vie en Rose,” Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Waters Of March” along with two original pieces by Wrembel: the passion-filled and angst-ridden “Holden Caulfield” and the gorgeously rueful “Ménage à Trois.” Wremble makes his debut as a singer here, adding his heartfelt, earnest vocals to two tracks: “La Javanaise” and “Le Poinçonneur des Lilas,” both by the French actor/singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Coming from one of the world’s most highly regarded Reinhardt specialists, Django New Orleans II: Hors-Série is an inspired sequel to Wremble’s adventurous celebration of historic material that reaches from France to Congo Square interpreted with just the right amount of tasteful, funky NOLA spirit and technical Sinti jazz guitar flash. Following a tour of Asia in January where he will perform in India, Korea, China and Japan, Wremble will bring his Django New Orleans group to The Kate in Old Saybrook, Connecticut (Feb. 12), Regattabar in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Feb. 13), The Woodland in Maplewood, New Jersey (May 13) and New York’s Symphony Space (May 15–16). His quartet will hit the road starting Feb. 19 with stops in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, Illinois, Kansas and Michigan.
