Take Five White Rabbit
Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 6:06AM The guy next to me kept screaming “White Rabbit!” at the top of his lungs for the better part of two hours. It was a Jefferson Airplane concert in 1971 and the band, despite a change of personnel could not escape their hits. No matter how well they played that guy would only be happy if they played White Rabbit.
Last week, while attending a performance of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, a true jazz legend and creator of West Coast Jazz, the guy in front of me screamed “Take Five!”. It seems no matter how many decades pass that fans are more interested in hearing your hits instead of your music. In Brubeck’s case he has progressed far beyond his Take Five days and created am amazingly diverse body of work. Yet, even with all he’s done since Take Five was recorded in 1959 I’m willing to bet that the majority of concert goers were there to hear Take Five, which is probably the only jazz composition most could name from memory. Of course, I’m sure few of them knew that the piece they were screaming to hear was not written by Brubeck, but by the late, great Paul Desmond, who played saxophone for The Dave Brubeck Quartet when they recorded Take Five.
Winemakers face the a similar dilemma. Once you get a big score, your big hit, you can feel locked into that style. It takes great courage to evolve your style in a way you believe in instead of just playing the same old hit over and over again. What most consumers don’t understand is that a winemaker can be relatively unhappy with a wine even though it gets a high score. As difficult as it is to believe, behind closed doors winemakers are often amazed at a high score they’ve received. What happens if you get a 93 from Robert Parker on a wine you’re not particularly pleased with? Do you keep making that wine or follow your own vision?
Brubeck seems to have resolved this dilemma perfectly as when he did finally play Take Five for the crowd, it was not the Take Five of 1959, but a piece that reflected the talents of the current Dave Brubeck Quartet. While it started with the famous chords and catchy quintuple time, it soon evolved, in the great tradition of jazz, into a distinctive exciting performance with a personality all its own.
Great winemaking should take its cue from the improvisational spirit of jazz as each vintage is a singular performance that deserves its own riffs.
Technorati Tags: wine, jazz, Brubeck, Take Five
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Reader Comments (7)
In 1971 it must have been Jefferson Airplane though, Starship started in 1974. Paul Kantner used the Jefferson Starship moniker on his solo album "Blows against the empire" and that was probably 1971. That band was never a touring unit and included people like Jerry Garcia, david Crosby and Graham Nash a long with some other musicians from Airplane and the Dead.
Wineries might learn a lot from a showman like Carlos Santana. Keep creating and attracting new audiences, but never forget those who have been long time fans.
I always remember reading about folks like Stony Hill who sold everything mail order for years and never had to find new customers until their followers all were dying off and few of the living were familiar with their wines. It's a struggle to go back and start over.
The insight into the winemaker's dilemma cuts straight to the heart of the matter: the moment you try to quantify the human, you dehumanize it.
Btw, same thing happened at a Neil Young concert I went to late last year...