They often say that music is the language of the soul. It’s a way for people to communicate what lives in them deep down inside. You could say the same for wine. Every bottle you drink it steeped in the hard work and passion that the great Italian winemakers bring to their work.
There is no form of music that offers so much room for creative expression as jazz. A freeform musical style since its beginnings, jazz has always been the realm of the improvisers, the impresarios, and the innovators.
It’s freeform music at its most flamboyant. Jazz does away with the styles and structures of many modern musical genres. Even so, there is an elegance to jazz. It is not something that any musician can play. A great deal of talent goes into jazz compositions and you can always see that, no matter how far the musicians stray away from the rules.
For that, and many other reasons, jazz and wine have always gone together well. We’re going to look at a few reasons why.
The Talent That Leads to Revolutions
Talent is the common ground that jazz and wine have always shared. The greatest jazz musicians are virtuosos who can make their instruments sing in ways you’ve never heard before. The greatest winemakers can tease every last drop of beauty out of their land, scintillating your tastebuds in the process. It is that talent that makes great jazz musicians and great winemakers stand out.
Combine the two and you have the perfect recipe for an amazing evening. Just imagine the scene yourself. The dulcet tones of a jazz trio doing their thing, accompanied by a stunning glass of red wine for a winemakers who has poured everything they have into the drink’s creation. It’s an explosion of talent that enraptures every single sense and you’ll find yourself blissfully consumed and never wanting to leave.
The Rebels and Innovators
Jazz has always been about pushing boundaries. The rules of musical form do not apply to the jazzman, who will happily do away with them so he can walk his own path. That means that jazz, barring a brief period in the early 20th century, has never scaled the popular heights of other musical forms. This insistence on defying tradition creates a rebelliousness that you just don’t hear enough in modern music.
Rebellion is not something that can readily attach to the Italian wine industry. So steeped in tradition, it often seems as though the industry has more respect for its history than for the work of the men and women who drive it forward.
Get past the surface, and you will find that are plenty of rebels in the annals of winemaking history who can give the rebels of jazz a run for their money. Just look at the Antinori family. One of the most historic wine producers is also one of the industry’s most rebellious. Its creation of Tignanello and blunt refusal to bring the drink under DOC classification demonstrates that. You see similar acts of rebellion throughout the history of Italian wine. For every new innovation, there are many who push back and call for the days of tradition. However, innovation eventually wins out.
The inventive ideas of years gone by have become the norm in the modern age. That idea applies just as much to jazz, which has influenced practically every musical genre that came after it, as it does to the innovators in the wine industry who have paved the way for today’s producers.
The Complexity
It’s not just the talent that shines through in a jazz performance. After all, anybody can recognize when somebody is good at something. It takes a trained ear to spot all of the complexities that go into a good jazz composition. Every note has to mean something and it’s all too easy to miss the little things while you’re paying attention to the bigger picture. Exploring this complexity is one of the many joys of the genre and you will get better at it as you spend more and more time listening to jazz.
That sounds remarkably similar to your journey through the world of wine, doesn’t it? What started out as a mild interest has developed into a passion. Where before you were happy just to drink a glass of wine for its surface taste, and perhaps the effect it has on you, now you want to explore more.
Every great wine has a complex makeup. The notes, the tannings, the acidity. Everything combines to create a stunning whole. But, it is in breaking down that whole that you will be able to truly understand what makes a great wine. The same rings true for the best jazz bands. It takes individual greatness to make something truly special.
The Intoxication
Of course, taking in the complexities of music is a joy. But, so too is allowing the music to wash over you and take you to places you would never be able to go without it. Great music is intoxicating. It makes you feel emotions without any of the triggers that normally cause them. You can find yourself floating on the greatest highs one moment and trawling through the deepest lows the next. It’s all about the journey and there are few types of music quite as effective as jazz at taking you on that journey.
We doubt we really need to tell you about the intoxicating effect that wine can have on you. We’ve all had one too many and felt the serene buzz that comes with intoxication. It’s not something you should do often, but there’s something uniquely calming about being intoxicated on wine.
Jazz and Wine
Jazz and wine mesh so well together of their many similarities. Both allow innovators to express themselves in ways they would never otherwise be able to. They are the domains of the creative, the dreamers, and the true talents of the world. Take some time to go to a local jazz bar and enjoy a glass of wine while listening to a wonderful band.
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