Happy Friday! 6.28.24

Hope you're looking forward to a beautiful weekend.

Special thanks to Jeb Patton for this week's music recommendation, passingly mentioned in a rehearsal together. Oh, and check him out with Adam Birnbaum (who I paired with Bordeaux a few weeks back) and Aaron Diehl at the 92nd Street Y on July 25th in person or streaming -- I know I'll be there.:)

Juice

La Felce's "Felcebianco" 2022 is a wine I enjoyed immensely. It is just so good -- when I studied up on it, the descriptions mostly said that this wine was an everyday sipper -- so I guess being stunned and impressed is an everyday feeling now!

This wine is a blend -- a trio of grapes. Is it the vermentino that gives it its lush baked d'anjou pear and yellow apple fruit, its generous mouthfeel? Is it the malvasia that brings that hazelnuty, salted butter quality? the trebbiano its lemon rind finish and just the right amount of pucker?

It's fun to wonder, but also -- who cares. The wine is seamless, indivisible, and a true pleasure. This bottle miraculously survived three days in my fridge, and it was still energetic and going strong when I polished it off.

I hope you can find this one -- and if you do, I you'll also really enjoy this profile on the winery and winemaker -- so many fun details there wasn't space for here!

Jazz

So I came to jazz from the world of theater and opera -- it was a steep learning curve that I was able to pedal up with the right teachers, collaborators, and fuel (curiosity and love of the music. )

There are things you learn in study, and things that just you just absorb by osmosis. That stank faced look when something is so good it's bad? That's very much a jazz thing. You know the one: face scrunched up, shaking your head side to side saying "no no" but you mean "DAYYMMMMNN" ?

Anyway, if you don't know what I'm talking about, just listen to the title track from Ron Carter's "Third Plane" (Concord, 1977) by Tony Williams, featuring the trio of Williams, Carter and Herbie Hancock -- I'm sure it'll just organically come over you.

The interplay between the three of them is so playful, responsive, and intense, separating what each of the three brings to the party is almost besides the point. Ron Carter's recording setup makes for this incredibly fat sound that's very distinctive and of the time, and then you've got the effervescent Williams and the ethereal Hancock round the whole vibe that make this track both refreshing and formidable.

Like any great trio, the sum isn't just greater than its parts, its a whole new entity in and of itself. This one is, to use a term I never heard in my stage days -- is killin'.
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Lawra - Instrumental Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock,... PREVIEW   ​

Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to next week!

Till the next,

Kristen

P.S.: If you have a wine lover, or a jazz lover, or a wine/jazz curious person in your life, feel free to send 'em along to the main page where they can check out the archive, and maybe subscribe! Thanks for sharing.:)