Hi and Happy Fall,

I'm really excited to share many things with you this week. I'll be doing my first in a series I'm calling "Song Salon" in a new space downtown, where hospitality, wine and song all converge.

The poster says it all, but I'll say more: I'll be doing two sets in duo with the wonderful Sebastian Noelle, sharing music from all my forthcoming projects, favorites from previous albums and other surprises. What's more, your ticket includes wine (for this first one, we'll even be pouring some Two Notes!) and some comestibles. If it seems unusual to have such abundance, conviviality and intimate musical conversation infuse a concert-going experience, that's the idea!

Tickets can be purchased ​here​.

Then, to the pairing!

Juice

I love the sound of German. Despite my failure to master the language, I've always savored the visceral way it feels to speak it, and the way it makes a feast of consonants. In the case of Tement's "Kalk & Kreide" 2023 sauvignon blanc from Südsteiermark, Austria, taste and sensation require no translation.

'Kalk' is essentially limestone soil, 'kreide'; clay, denoting the soil types the grapes are grown in. The words have evocative texture when spoken, and when sipped -- even more so.

On the nose, it’s so giving: kiwi, naval orange, jasmine flowers with ripe generosity that promise familiar top-tier sauv blanc at its best -- and then on first sip, the wine brings you to attention like an onomatopoeia -- zing! Puckering, sappy, mouthwatering -- coating the palate and also possessing a chiseled minerality and racy acidity. It's a wine that deliciously cuts like a knife, and yet envelopes you in robes of fruit.

The bottle vivified my enthusiasm for this grape and will surely do the same for you. Find it at ​Flatiron Wine & Spirits in NYC​ -- (tell 'em Kristen sent ya.;))

Jazz

The voice of Bing Crosby brings to mind the aural equivalent of a fuzzy blanket -- familiar and warm. On the Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht song "Mack the Knife" from Threepenny Opera (from Bing with a Beat, 1957 RCA), his sound is in compelling contrast to sharp, brilliant lyrics that deliver a lingering effect -- unsettling and easeful at the same time.

"Mack the Knife" is about a rapacious criminal who thrives in the corruption of capitalist society. What the swinging versions of this tune manage to do well, this one included, is to make you feel so good you find you're rooting for this deadbeat.

Even in translation from the original German, and after almost one hundred years, this song has never lost its edge, especially in hands that know how to caress the melody while delivering taught punches of rhythm.

Mack The Knife Bing Crosby PREVIEW   ​

I'll send something along before the 16th, in the meantime happy sipping...

Truly,

Kristen