​

Happy Friday!

Hope you're looking forward to a great weekend.

I've been working on the tunes for August 5th, tending to a sunburn and working on some new songs...but onto what I've been sipping on and listening to!

Juice

There is no discovery, really, in matters of wine. If something’s made by humans it’s already been some combination of discovered and created. However that doesn’t stop me from feeling a sense of satisfaction, victory even, when I encounter something new and seemingly away from popular view.

​

When I was introduced to my first silvaner, (or sylvaner,) it was in a very traditional bocksbeutel (these crazy squat little bottles that look like something from middle earth) and it was love at first sip. Something vivid, green, fresh and fruited made me fall for this grape hard — all the more because I don’t think anyone else was drinking it.

​

Of course, lots of people were, and are. Silvaner is most famed in Franken, Germany (where those weird little bottles came from) and in other places too. This week’s wine is an excellent example coming from Alto Adige, Italy.
​

Muri-Gries Silvaner 2023 is bright and brisk. Fruits of lime, kiwi and touch of orange are full and prickly until tartness puckers the palate, and it finishes with a stony minerality. It’s refreshing and dense, a departure from the usual that I think any sauvignon blanc lover would enjoy.

Jazz

​

When I found a video of Jeanne Lee singing with Ran Blake on a YouTube excursion, I had a feeling of discovery and fascination. Such daring and artistry immediately intrigued me: her distinctive mezzo timbre, his free-ranging choices — the two of them together are art song-gospel-chamber jazz, and they were made more thrilling to me by thinking I might have stumbled upon a forgotten treasure.

​

Luckily, I'm far from alone in my appreciation — the debut album of Lee & Blake called “The Newest Sound Around” (RCA VIctor, 1962) is a cult classic, exactly because it feels so new and unique even decades later. I chose the ditty “Season in the Sun” for this week’s tune because it’s lyrics are so particular and playful, and you get a sense of Lee and Blake’s work. Plus, it’s summer.

​

Things get much deeper, and harmonically murkier, on other tracks on the album. In particular, “Laura” - which has never been sung so hauntingly, and is beyond any pairing; or another song for the season, "Summertime," which ventures further afield than any take on the song you've heard before.

​

Season in the Sun Jeanne Lee, Ran Blake PREVIEW   ​

I hope you enjoy these! Let me know what you think.

​

Till the next,

Kristen

​

P.S.: If you have 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.:)