Drummer Dave Potter leads a stellar sextet playing a musical tribute to Jazz legend Thelonious Monk, featuring Taber Gable on piano, Miguel Alvarado on tenor saxophone and Rob "El Ton" Linton on bass. Thelonious Monk (1917–1982) was a groundbreaking jazz pianist and composer whose highly original style helped shape modern jazz. Known for his percussive touch, angular melodies, and unexpected harmonies, he wrote enduring standards like "Round Midnight", "Blue Monk" and "Straight, No Chaser." Monk’s fearless individuality and innovative approach expanded the language of jazz and continue to influence musicians today.

Following his graduation from Florida State, drummer Dave Potter was chosen from a national pool of applicants to be a member of the Louis Armstrong Quintet at the University of New Orleans. Unfortunately, the tragedy of hurricane Katrina temporarily ended his hopes for a career in Louisiana. Soon after, Potter was awarded a full scholarship to The Julliard School in New York City. However, after several days of intense meditation he declined the offer and returned to Florida State University, where he received his master’s degree after further collaboration with his mentor Marcus Roberts. The drummer is now based in Atlanta where he maintains a busy teaching and performing schedule while also touring with The Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, Greg Tardy, Eric Reed, and Marcus Roberts, as well as his main project as a leader, Retro Groove.

Dave Potter - drums
Miguel Alvarado - tenor sax
Taber Gable - piano
Rob "El Tón" Linton - bass

Memphis-native pianist and composer Eli Ibrahim grew up immersed in the city’s rich musical heritage, studying piano throughout high school under acclaimed Memphis pianist Stephen Lee. In 2024, he relocated to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University, where he studies jazz performance under Pat Coil.

Since arriving in Nashville, Eli has quickly become a dynamic presence in the local jazz scene, known for his soulful touch and versatility across styles. He has shared the stage with Kirk Whalum, Regi Wooten, Benny Benack III, and Joyce Cobb, and through Vanderbilt has worked with world-renowned artists such as Sean Jones, Ignacio Berroa, and Jon Batiste.

Eli continues to develop his voice as both an improviser and composer, blending his Memphis roots with the modern sounds of Nashville’s evolving jazz community.

Aidan Mills - Guitar
Eli Ibrahim - Piano
Ethan Assad - Bass
Will Stenberg - Drums

Grammy Winner saxophonist Dana Robbins pays tribute to Les McCann & Eddie Harris and other artists; the Soul Jazz Sound of the late 60’s early 70’s, bringing back a genre that hasn’t been heard in decades, as well as great music of the B3 organ/tenor sax recordings from artists such as Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, Jimmy McGriff, Joey DeFrancesco and Charles Earland.

Dana Robbins’ early years were spent at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since moving to Nashville in the 80's, she has played and recorded for Delbert McClinton, Keb’ Mo and Steve Cropper and has played live with Aretha Franklin, Taj Mahal, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Jennifer Hudson, Felix Cavaliere, and The McCrary sisters.

David Santos (bass)
Wes Little ( drums)
Phil Hughley (guitar)
Darius Mines (piano/B3)

"A revelation!" - Rolling Stone

"Perhaps the most creative improviser in Gypsy jazz today, Mr. Wrembel plays the guitar with a rich and colorful lyricism." - New York Times

"Stephane Wrembel just might be the greatest acoustic guitarist alive." - The Aquarian

Stephane Wrembel is quite simply one of the finest guitar players in the world. The breadth and range of his playing and compositions are unmatched. This prolific musician, composer, educator, and musical director has released a steady stream of music since 2002 truly making his mark as one of the most original guitar voices in contemporary music.

His live performance is unparallel. He has headlined Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall in NYC and The Lyon Opera House in France. He has toured and/or shared stages with master violinist Mark O’Connor, Sam Bush, Stochelo Rosenberg, Esperanza Spalding, and Al Di Meola. He has dazzled audiences at Montreal Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Django Reinhardt Festival in France, Ellnora Guitar Festival, Caramoor Jazz Festival and many others. He has toured Canada, France, Israel, UK, India and Nigeria.

Born in Paris and raised in Fontainebleau, the home of Impressionism and Django Reinhardt, Wrembel first studied classical piano, beginning at the age of four. But in his mid-teens, he discovered that he had an affinity for guitar. As a big fan of Pink Floyd, he “spent hours learning David Gilmour’s style,” he said. “So I had a classical background, a passion for rock music, and then I found out about Django. I fell in love with the very strong impressionist feel in his music.”

Reinhardt, long regarded as one of the most influential musicians and composers of all time, was a Sinti (a Roma group from Western Europe). Wrembel immersed himself in Sinti culture, spending “six, seven years going to the camps. I started learning the atmosphere of what it really means to play Sinti-style guitar. I learned from the masters such as Angelo Debarre and Serge Krief. That’s how you learn this music because it is specific to a culture. Music is not only the notes. Without the culture, something is missing.”

Wrembel graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2002. That same year he released his debut album, Introducing Stephane Wrembel. Vintage Guitar Magazine praised the recording as “pure dazzle and dash, a stunning storm of notes that blankets the melody in a rain of arpeggiated notes.”

Wrembel moved to NYC in 2003. Before long, word of this remarkable European transplant began spreading among fellow musicians and denizens of the teeming New York music scene. Both Gypsy Rumble (2005), which includes mandolin legend David Grisman, and 2006’s Barbes-Brooklyn found favor with critics. Oscar-winning director Woody Allen used one of Gypsy Rumble’s tracks, “Big Brother,” in his 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Wrembel’s fourth album, Terre Des Hommes, was released the same year.

In 2003, Wrembel created his own annual event, Django á Gogo Music Festival & Guitar Camp, bringing together some of the finest musicians in the world to celebrate the Sinti guitar style to perform in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and The Town Hall. This weeklong event held in his hometown of Maplewood, N.J. and NYC is now being produced in Los Angeles, Canada and beyond.

Wrembel’s breakthrough came with his original composition “Bistro Fada,” a Django-influenced swinging waltz on his fifth album Origins that became the theme song for Woody Allen’s 2011 Oscar®-winning film, Midnight In Paris. It was included on the Grammy®-winning soundtrack for the film. Wrembel performed the irresistibly catchy “Bistro Fada” live during the 2012 Academy Awards® ceremony with an all-star ensemble led by Hans Zimmer.

In 2014, Wrembel delivered Dreamers of Dreams recorded outside of New York City with his band which included bassist Dave Speranza, rhythm guitarist Roy Williams, and drummer Nick Anderson. In 2016, Wrembel released two masterfully recorded live albums: Live In India and Live In Rochester. Wrembel is extremely popular in both of those locales.

From 2017-2021, Wrembel released The Django Experiment I -The Django Experiment VI under the nom du plume The Django Experiment. These six volumes were recorded with long-time collaborators Thor Jensen on guitar, Ari Folman-Cohen on double bass, Nick Anderson on drums, and Nick Driscoll on saxophone and clarinet, live in the studio, evoking new interpretations of Reinhardt’s music as well as songs by other jazz composers. The albums garnered rave reviews including coverage in Jazz Times, Downbeat, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Guitar World, New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Weekly, All About Jazz, and more.

In 2019, Wrembel produced Les Yeux Noirs, the debut CD by Simba Baumgartner, Django’s great-grandson. Baumgartner, who lives in the countryside in France, was one of the special guests at Django á Gogo 2019 and 2023. That same year, Wrembel released Django L’Impressionniste putting the spotlight on 17 little-known preludes for solo guitar Reinhardt recorded between 1937 and 1950. Wrembel is the first interpreter who has performed all of these pieces and collected them in one definitive masterwork. It took 4 years to meticulously transcribe the songs. He released a beautifully printed and bound book of sheet music in April of 2021.

In 2020, he contributed the original score for the Woody Allen movie, Rifkin’s Festival, which stars Gina Gershon, Christoph Waltz and Wallace Shawn.

In November of 2021, Wrembel debuted his specialty group Django New Orleans, a 9-piece NYC-based band, with 8 sold-out shows at Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club. The following year his specialty program Shades of Django sold out two nights in The Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Following the success of these shows, Wrembel released Django New Orleans in May of 2023 in conjunction with the Django á Gogo festival.

And while Wrembel is now considered one of the preeminent master guitarists in the world specialized in the Django Reinhardt style, Wrembel revels in transcending and expanding. His music incorporates jazz, blues, classical, swing, flamenco and rock. All of these influences come together as a genre identifiable only as Stephane Wrembel.

“I just play my own music,” he says. “I like to believe that it is beyond any one genre and that there is something in it for everyone. It’s not only for Django lover or jazz lover. It’s for the music lover.”

www.stephanewrembel.com