Which wine do you serve with Jazz?

Something mellow and aged or something bold and flavorful?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrY8pr2ub0Y


You decide.

I vote mellow.

I'm not much into jazz but I'd agree with the "aged and mellow" for that piece.


Mike

I have more...

To wit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QffM8znYbM

My all time favorite Jazz guitarist: Steve Khan.

I'd go with a bolder wine with this tune...perhaps a Zinfandel or Petite Syrah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqwmDNPegnM

Herbie Hancock- Keys
Ron Carter- Bass
Freddy Hubbard- Trumpet
Joe Henderson- Tenor
Art Blakey- Drums

Diana Krall.

Diana Krall.

Agreed!

I don't like Jazz, but I'd go with a nice Pinot Noir with one of the geese from that video.

Depends what you're listening to. If you're listing to Duke Ellington or John Coltrane I'd think something aged and smooth, something that lingers in your mouth for some time.

If you're listening to Russell Gunn or Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea, definitely something bold that opens your eyes.

Tim, I recall having a similar discussion on the old WLDG some years ago and I have for several years had a strong connection between jazz and labrusca - especially my dry Niagara. Mainly it has to do with the wildness of the native grape wine and the improvisational nature of jazz - there is a synergy between the two for me. And when I pour my dry labruscas, jazz always has to be playing in the background - it's just one of those synergetic things that makes sense to the one experiencing it but that others might not quite understand.

Along a similar line, I find that Cynthiana - the more brackish and wild the better - would also inspire a jazz-oriented mood in me ... if only we had access to those wines in Ontario.

I'm not into Jazz either...but if I had to listen to that piece? I'd go with a a pinot also.

Richard

I would skip the wine and go with gin and tonic as a tribute to jazz's speakeasy heritage.

And as far as bebop's reputation for other forms of intoxicants, well I won't go there.

Truthfully, I'd have to say Bourbon is my drink of choice with jazz. But if I were going with wine, it'd be an aged, complex, mellow red - at least with the Wes Montgomery piece in the youtube clip.

If we were talking Charlie Hunter or something really funky and upbeat - say Mingus - a bright New World red would seem more in line for me.

Come to think of it, matching jazz and wine is like pairing it with food: depends what's being served.

Great Question!

I am a jazz afficianado and I would have to agree that it depends on the type of jazz.

Most smooth jazz (like Diana Krall, my Canadian Honey or Miles Davis) would go best with a mellow and subtle wine and I would choose a nice aged pinot noir for a red or a chenin blanc from Vouvray for a white.

Big band jazz like Duke Ellington or Count Basie would blend best with a more bold and flavorful wine like a nice aged cabernet or bordeuax for a red or riesling kabinett or spatlese for a white.

Jazz fusion would suggest a blended wine like a nice CdP or CdR for a red and kir royale (champagne and creme de cassis) for a white.

Can only be

Chassagne Montrachet

Come to think of it, matching jazz and wine is like pairing it with food: depends what's being served.

Good point.


And as it was correctly pointed out earlier, spirts like bourbon or gin would be closer to a Jazz drink than wine....

I just thought it would be kind of interesting to see

#1 If Jazz listeners abound on this BBS and
#2 What possible combinations we could come up with.



Straight ahead!

As someone who has loved jazz since my teen age years I wouldn't want any wine too complicated or complex. I attended the Monterey jazz festival for over 25 years and I never wanted anything to distract me from the music. The type of music on the number with Herbie Hancock, F. Hubbard was my favorite style of all time. Just put your head back close your eyes and go with it!

Listening to straight up jazz in the smoky clubs of Georgetown I'd usually have a steak and whiskey.
At the Newport Jazz Fest watching Miles or Brubeck it was a cold, light white as it was often times 85-90deg in the hot August sun.
At a non-smoking dinner club I'd go with a Perfect Manhattan
My latest purchase is Monks Complete Blue Note Recordings. The music is so varied over these 4 disks that just about any wine would work. How about a rich, smoky syrah.

Listening to straight up jazz in the smoky clubs of Georgetown I'd usually have a steak and whiskey.
At the Newport Jazz Fest watching Miles or Brubeck it was a cold, light white as it was often times 85-90deg in the hot August sun.
At a non-smoking dinner club I'd go with a Perfect Manhattan
My latest purchase is Monks Complete Blue Note Recordings. The music is so varied over these 4 disks that just about any wine would work. How about a rich, smoky syrah.

Funny you should mention steak and whiskey, Bill...I live in a Agriculture intensive area of California and that combo reminds me of Country and Western music. In fact, a restaurant hereabouts advertised exactly that as it's mainstay menu item for years....line dancing and local country bands on weekends.

Bottom line is the connection to music still exists for me. Pretty cool, huh

Alka-Seltzer

With a side of Justin Timberlake.

As someone who has loved jazz since my teen age years I wouldn't want any wine too complicated or complex. I attended the Monterey jazz festival for over 25 years and I never wanted anything to distract me from the music. The type of music on the number with Herbie Hancock, F. Hubbard was my favorite style of all time. Just put your head back close your eyes and go with it!

I agree.

I've been a long time patron of the Playboy Jazz Festival [since 1981] and complex wines would often detract from the venue. TBH, an aged wine at a concert cannot be appreciated as much since there are more sensory distractions and people to deal with than what you might find leaning back, as you say, in front of your home stereo sipping that same fine red.


So I guess we might categorize this the discussion relative to where one might listen to Jazz and drink a glass of wine.

Tim, I recall having a similar discussion on the old WLDG some years ago and I have for several years had a strong connection between jazz and labrusca - especially my dry Niagara. Mainly it has to do with the wildness of the native grape wine and the improvisational nature of jazz - there is a synergy between the two for me. And when I pour my dry labruscas, jazz always has to be playing in the background - it's just one of those synergetic things that makes sense to the one experiencing it but that others might not quite understand.

Along a similar line, I find that Cynthiana - the more brackish and wild the better - would also inspire a jazz-oriented mood in me ... if only we had access to those wines in Ontario.

Excellent post, Paul.

I kind of keyed in on your point about improvisation in Jazz and it got me thinking about what wines I serve when entertaining at our home. As per usual, I will be playing some Jazz on the stereo and the wines I serve tend to be wines I pick in a random sort of way. In other words, I'll start with a lighter style Pinot, lets say, then go with another varietal dependent upon the mood of the music and the pairing of that with the particular wine which matches both the palate in sucsession and the direction the Jazz is going.

Basically, I try to match both but I don't have a set plan to it. Make sense?

Basically, I try to match both but I don't have a set plan to it. Make sense?

Tim, I'd say that in so far as the spontaneity of your choices of wine in that circumstance mirrors the spontaneity inherent to jazz (or "improvisation", if you will), then yes, of course it makes sense.

My example of the dry Niagara typically makes me think of musical notes that correspond to the aromatic characters I find in the wine. Put another way, the heavy oily character of Niagara makes me think of a bass line and a wistful trombone; the candy-sweet high-note musk makes me think of a very fine percussion motif in the background, or even towards the finish of a tune, when it simply ends off with a smooth percussive note.

Either way, it's all fun