what:
AOC
Burgundy, France
100% Pinot Noir
where:
Waltz on the Square
1110 Van Buren Avenue
Oxford, Mississippi
when:
derby season
character:
Is it possible for someone to occupy both the origin and the fringe? Quite
possible, it seems, as Beaune, the Sidney Bechet of Burgundy, has somehow
managed it. On the surface he seems to have all the makings, not the least
of which is perfect provenance (the town of Beaune is to Burgundy what New
Orleans is to jazz). He has the talent—the mastery over a single instrument
(in this case either the soprano saxophone or clarinet), the fragrant tonality,
the distinctively wide vibrato, the muscly improvisations. And he certainly
has the story. Perhaps too much story, as it turns out. For his is an active
out-loud kind of life—the kind of life where one might find oneself
wielding a gun in a crowded Paris street, in broad daylight—the kind
of life that inevitably, in the case of Bechet, distract us from the actual
music itself. So we talk about the how, and forget about the what. Which,
once we sit and actually listen is complex, lush, incredibly nuanced, and
utterly original. Rarely counted among the true geniuses of the form, we
find Bechet to be something else—its origin, the very epitome of the
genre itself.
tastes like:
“Petite Fleur” by Sidney Bechet.
pairs nicely with:
Solo soprano saxophone; listening to the retelling of a true story, told
by an old friend, all the while not being at all certain what might happen
next despite the fact that one features prominently as a character in its
events; the re-retelling of said true story the next time one encounters
said old friend; and a natural storyteller’s gift for embellishing
the embellishments; Basin Street Oysters with spinach, pancetta, and brie;
Fried Softshell Crab with red beans & rice, andouille, dill cabbage
tartare and creole mustard; Bone-In Ribeye with tellegio mashed potatoes
and pinot noir demi glace; “All of Me,” “Black and Blue,”
and “St. Louis Blues,” by Sidney Bechet; Epoisse, Cantal Salere,
Manchego, your milder Gruyeres, and the sound of a well-played clarinet.