It was a beautiful afternoon here in LA, which I spent with my mom, for Mother's Day... talking about all kinds of things and enjoying a tasty brunch. Hungry Cat, in Hollywood, has a great burger. Days leading up till now had been a bit cloudy, and at my last-minute birthday party on Friday there was no sunset to speak of. In fact it has been quite cold in the evenings, and better to stay inside where it's warm. The party was a blast, with a small group of friends and delicious food: pizzas from Mozza, chickens from Pollo a la Brasa, Tuscan white beans with garlic & rosemary & good olive oil, burrata from basilicata and killer parmigiano. Other food highlights from recent weeks have been a particularly decadent meal at Cochon in New Orleans, with things like fried pig's ears, and pig cheeks; outstanding modern Vietnamese cooking at Slanted Door, fresh oysters at Hog Island Oyster Bar, and southwestern scrambled eggs with spicy sausage at the Pork Store, all three in SF; the fine casual cuban restaurant "Kuba-Kuba," the modern southern cooking at "Comfort," and the more haute "Verbena" in Richmond, VA; and a meal at the home of my friends David and Kim--who are wine importers and distributors--cooked by the talented chef Octavio Becerra which included a coddled egg in parmesan cream, creamy polenta, tomato relish, and pork cooked two ways (belly and chop). Wines have been too numerous to mention, at the highest rungs of the quality ladder, and might make you angry, jealous, or bored if I listed them all. But some highlights were 1990 Rayas, 1982 Cheval Blanc, 1959 Haut Brion, 1990 Pichon Lalande, 2001 D'Arenberg Dead Arm, 1989 Chave Hermitage Rouge, 1996/90/82 Chateau Margaux, 2006 Hudson Vineyards Chardonnay, 2004 Aubert Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay, 2003 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle, several Elio Grasso Barolos, 1990 Petrus, 1999 Harlan Estate. And that's really just a small sampling. Totally over-the top: these wines and others not mentioned have been unforgettable, and a true stepping-up of my wine education. Even the recent comparison between Charvin Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005, and the same producer's 2005 Cotes-du-Rhone was a real eye-opener.
I had been moving fast with the composition of a new piece for jazz orchestra: themes coming easily, larger ideas for the architecture of the piece coalescing around the themes. And then as a fair amount of work on the road took over, I slowed down. Of course it wouldn't be the fault of all that eating and drinking. So now, a Sunday night, and I am focusing my mind to the work I want to do as the coming weeks pass. My goal is to be finished with the first draft by June 1, and schedule a read-through soon after. That will give me a couple more weeks to make revisions before embarking on tour June 24th. Being at VCU in Richmond, VA recently with a mentor of mine, the composer-arranger Doug Richards, gave me some insights to how to continue with the writing of this piece. Especially illuminating were his breakdowns of two disparate Gil Evans arrangements ("Flute Song" and "My Ship") during a class of his that I sat in on.
Also in the works finally are the US printing of NOVA, my collaborative CD with Chico Pinheiro, and shows in late August and early September to officially launch the record here. We will do our best to make it EASY to get here in the states, at stores and online, and you should begin to see press about it during that time frame. Chico has been in NYC the last two weeks, doing shows with a group that included Helio Alves, Claudio Roditi, and Duduka de Fonseca, and also some shows to launch "San Francisco," a new album by Brad Mehldau's wife Fleurine. I put together a trio with Larry Goldings and Jeff Hamilton, and played this past Tuesday at John Pisano's guitar night: this may be a trio that will do more in the future. Also, Josh Nelson is planning a new recording that will include Ben Wendel and myself, to be done in August.
Blogging about food has begun to seem a little strange to me. I'm trying to see how I might blog more comprehensively about my life and my process of creating and performing music, how these intersect with my experience of traveling & eating & drinking. People blog like crazy these days with the pictures of the food they eat, and sometimes not much more than a blurb which lists the dishes they had. But does this tell anybody anything? So I go to Osteria Mozza and take a picture of a plate of Bucatini all'Amatriciana, or I go to a taco truck and I photograph a plate of Tacos al Pastor. What of my EXPERIENCE is translated? Even the most picture-perfect presentations must, and generally do, give something more. I remember Restaurant Philippe Rochat, and that chef's beautifully composed dishes, but it's not what I'm interested in, essentially. Did the great food writers of yesteryear go around with Iphones and digital cameras interrupting the experience of their meals with pictures? I think I am becoming more interested in how various elements---the rhythms of working and traveling; the quest for delicious, non-processed, non-industrial foods and wines of high-quality, simply prepared, and the sense-memories that these foods and wines engender; practicing, composing, and performing original music and music with colleagues that I respect immensely; spending hours working in my garden---how these elements combine to make my LIFE what it is. Posting to my blog from this perspective keeps things personal, broader, somehow for me a more complete reflection of the person I am.
Having said that, I've included a picture of food and a picture of wine, from my recent trip to San Francisco (clustered around the oysters that's me with my great friend Dave Sokolin), as well as a picture of me with my good friend and inspiration Doug Richards on a warm spring day in Richmond, VA. These recent trips taught me important lessons about both the music AND the wines I love.
I'll keep up with updates as the days go on, some reflections and notes as I continue the process of writing this new work, and other thoughts as they come up.
