[Dixielandjazz] Wine tasting

[Jim O'Briant]

Marek Boym wrote:

> Yesterday I ... went to wine tasting instead of the beach. ...
>
> When we ... were approaching the premises, we heard music, ... 
>
> it was the sound of Swing de Gitanes.  ... two thirds of the 
> group - Yaakov Hoter (guitar) and Oren Sagy (bass) - were 
> there, playing live. ... We stayed much longer that we would 
> have otherwise; we just listened to music, making occasional 
> trips to get a glass of wine.  

It's not unusual to find something similar at California wineries. In
California's "wine country" (not just Napa Valley and Sonoma County, but in
other wine regions as well -- Lake County, Mendocino, Livermore, Sierra
Foothills, Santa Clara Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey County, Paso
Robles, Santa Barbara County, Temecula, etc.). Here in the Santa Clara
Valley (the south end of Silicon Valley), several of the wineries have live
music one or two nights per week. Unfortunately, most of it is 80's cover
bands re-hashing their re-creations of 25-year old pop tunes, and there's
relatively little Trad Jazz. 

But there's some. My band, the Zinfandel Stompers, has played at Solis
Winery in Gilroy every Memorial Day and every Labor Day since 2007. In
October 2010 we played for an event at Cima Collina winery in Carmel Valley,
CA. Next Saturday, Sept 17,  we'll be at TKC Vineyards in Plymouth, CA, to
play for four hours at their 30th anniversary celebration. 

I try to book winery gigs when I can; the members of the band like what they
call "food & wine gigs." We sometimes play for a little less money than we'd
like, but the food is generally excellent and the wines as well. 

Jim O'Briant
Gilroy, CA
Tuba & Leader, The Zinfandel Stompers