Tell me about your childhood
in France. When did you first
pick up the guitar?
First, I was playing the
piano. I’m originally from
Fontainebleau–which is the
home of Impressionism. I
studied piano at age 4 and
was classically trained in the
Impressionist style by an
old piano teacher who knew
Debussy, so I was trained in
that old traditional school. I
started playing guitar when I
was 15 and I was playing more
’70s rock like Pink Floyd and
Zeppelin. When I was about
19 or 20 I really wanted to
expand my horizons so I prac-
ticed Django stuff, jazz, Indian
music, African music, and stuff
like that.
Did your parents push you
into music?
I have two sisters, and my mom
really wanted us to play an
instrument. We started with the
piano because that is what she
knew. She wanted us to con-
tinue with an instrument and
when I was 15 I said, “I really
wanted to play the guitar.”
When I was a teenager I really
loved David Gilmour—he is
still my favorite—Frank Zappa,
Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page.
Loved Andy Summers, too.
Wrembel plays his Holo Nouveau at the intimate Empire Hotel Rooftop in NYC on June 18, 2012. Photo by Scott Bernstein
So Django wasn’t one of your
primary influences when you
were younger?
Django’s music has always been
around, especially because I am
from the area where he settled.
For us, it was just traditional
music, much like bluegrass is
here. It’s always been there but I
never really paid attention to it.
It was only when I studied jazz
and French traditional music that
I really started to discover him.
kid. I always wanted to move
here. It was a childhood dream.
Being a musician, going to
Berklee was another dream
from when I was a teenager.
When I was 26 I got a scholarship and was able to go get my
tutorings. I concentrated mostly
on jazz and all kinds of world
music. I studied Indian music
there, Western African music,
and Greek music a little bit.
When you learn to drive, you put your
hands on the wheel and learn everything
internally. After that you are able to drink
a coffee and drive, so the rule becomes
“drive.” It’s the same thing with the guitar.
Did you move to the States
specifically to study music?
I have been fascinated with
the United States since I was a
What was it that most interest-
ed you in those types of music?
To me, music is only one
thing—it’s just music.
Different countries approach
the language from different
directions, but they all melt
together at the end. Indian
music is very good for study-
ing the architecture of rhythm;
you understand rhythm way
better with Indian music. And
their ways of practicing are
amazing. With African music,
they have an amazing rhythm
and the way they use certain
colors of percussion, I can
do on guitar. The jazz music
is very important because it
makes you a more confident
improviser over complicated
chord progressions.
When did you make a choice to
focus more on acoustic music?
I don’t really focus on acoustic
music, it has just been added
to my playing. It was only
really when I discovered Django
that I learned to play acoustic
instruments. If you give me an
electric guitar, I can play like a
