Frenchman Stephane Wrembel calls his music "gypsy jam," a hybrid of world music dominated by his gypsy guitar. At the heart of this music, and in the heart of Wrembel, stands Django Reinhardt, the undefeated master of gypsy jazz guitar. Reinhardt's two-fingered terse, tight tone and jump is unmistakable on his original recordings, and equally recognizable when they surface directly or indirectly as influences, as they do with musicians like Wrembel. In fact, Wrembel considers Django Reinhardt the actual name of the style.

Teenaged Wrembel was turned on to guitar via the legends you'd expect, like Hendrix and Zeppelin. But when he went to the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois, France, at age 20, it was clear what he would be doing from then on.

Wrembel colors outside the lines with African and Latin rhythms, as well as other assorted world strains, with the mystique, romance, and sensuality of the master intact. Yet he possesses a distinct voice, a unique sound. Perhaps we could even call the music Stephane Wrembel.

I spoke with Wrembel on the phone at his New York City home. Between his French accent, crappy cell phone reception (pouvez-vous m'Entendre maintenant?), and my Rochester bleat, this is what I could decipher.

CITY: When did you first pick up the guitar?

STEPHANE WREMBEL: First I was classically trained on piano at the age of 4, and I picked up the guitar at the age of 16 - actually 20 years ago exactly this month.

Why the guitar?

Rock 'n' roll; 70's rock like Pink Floyd. I'm probably the biggest Pink Floyd fan on the planet. I picked up the guitar to learn Pink Floyd songs, Led Zeppelin, old Genesis, and all that stuff.

When did this fascination turn to jazz?

I wanted to become a musician, so I decided to study jazz and improvisation because I was fascinated by improvisation. This is when I began to discover the music of Django.

Being classically trained, did you have to unlearn or break rules?

With the gypsies I had to unlearn what I learned at school. Classical is different. Classical is really about composing, organizing, architecture. The problem is how improvisation is taught at school, because you cannot teach improvisation. You can't. You can learn improvisation by improvising, but you cannot learn improvisation from an external source. Improvisation is a state of mind.

What does a person do, then?

What you can do is manipulate simple layers on simple chords and train your ear to hear everything, and you can get it more and more complicated little by little.

When did you discover Django Reinhardt?

When I was 20. I knew about Django. The sound was around, you know. In my area there were a lot of gypsies.

What about his music grabbed you?

It's like improvisation. It's something you can't describe with words. You just hear it and there is something that just happens, and that's it. You just want to play it.

We always hear about Django. Are there other gypsy jazz guitarists that are unsung?

What we call gypsy jazz is Django Reinhardt style. We play like him. It's Django's music, that's the reality. It's like with be-bop, it's Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

How do you expand within the style in order to grow with it and make it your own?

Chances are you're going to steal from your influences, but in a very natural way. It's not a choice, it's just what comes out. You can play the same song on the same guitar with the same intention, but it's completely different. There is no choice even when you copy something that inspires you; what is going to come out is your personality anyway. Django is like my base. It's the place where I can go back to learn. It's always there. But also I have learned Indian music, I've studied some African beats, Latin music, Middle-Eastern music... Little by little my playing has been tinted by all these other influences.

Those are all complimentary styles

Everything is complimentary if it's not done with too much intellect. There is what you learn and what you leave, and that's completely different. You have people that say, "I'm going to put bit of this, a bit of that in" the wrong way. It doesn't come from the heart, it comes from the intellect, and you try to tie it together.

So are you a bigger Pink Floyd fan than a Django Reinhardt fan?

It's just completely different. Pink Floyd has a special place in my heart - Django too, for different reasons. From the music you hear between the ages of 5 and 17... the music you hear in that period strikes you forever.

Stephane Wrembel: The Django Experiment

Sunday, June 14

City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage

7:15 & 9:15 p.m. | Free

Sunday, June 15

Club Pass Big Tent

8:30 & 10 p.m. | $20/Club Pass