Tired in advance of the soon-to-come Beaujolais-Nouveau frenzy ? Time to rebel and take to the street ! There has been many voices saying that the time had come for another era (like this failed prediction here in 1992 by Patricia Wells). Let's celebrate the death of Beaujolais-Nouveau and rejoice.
That's what Les Pipos (a wine bar in Paris) and a local figure of the fifth arrondissement , Professeur Larue, plotted yesterday, exactly a week before the now-a-world-ritual Beaujolais Nouveau day. The day was officially declared the Official Celebration Day In Memoriam of the Late Beaujolais-Nouveau (2006 Beaujolais to be precise).
The subversive group spread the news by word of mouth in the neighborhood and a growing crowd gathered in the afternoon and the evening around the bar on the top of the rue Sainte Geneviève to vent its joyful rage, fueled by unlimited pours of Beaujolais 2006 (a real wine, this time!) and the boundless energy of a 10-musician-strong street band playing New-Orleans jazz music.
I myself heard about the desperate insurrection while on the other side of the fifth and courageously decided to join the rebellion. when I arrived on the scene, the situation was already out of control, there were several dozens beaming revelers moving in rhythm with a seemingly indefatigable band.
As it was virtually impossible to fray one's way through the crowd into the bar, and as the musicians were asking for more wine between long stretches of music with solos passing from player to player under the applause of bystanders, the "professeur", a tastevin around the neck, came to the rescue of his troops with a bunch of glasses. Let's the populace have their wine!....The pipos owner had this huge bottle of Beaujolais (a 9-liter Salmanazar) with "Paix à Mon Ãme" (Rest in Peace) pinned on its bottle neck and he needed all his strength to hold it and fill the glasses or the jugs. Where will all this end ?
The band has a name : "Les Employés du Jazz", which is a wink to "les employés du gaz" , in french the employees of the natural-gas state-owned french monopoly (GDF). I guess they're not after the GDF employees and this is just a humoristic note added to the picture. The band was strong of 9 musicians that evening and they seem to love wine as much as Jazz, if I consider the picture posted on their presentation page...They are based in the south of France but seem to have roots around there, and they can be hired for private or public parties going from 3 musicians to the full-blown big band.
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There's nothing like music and wine to instill energy in a crowd on a reasonably
cold day. I can't pass you the wine but I happened to have my M-Audio Microtrack with me to record a podcast of this New-Orleans Jazz that evening, so I wanted at least to share with you some of the music that night, with the trumpet and also the double bass, the banjo and the fiddle. Alas, the battery was low and I couldn't record anything. But here is something of the same vein that I found on the internet (on the left) : the legendary french jazz musicians Django Reinhard and Stéphane Grapelli playing the unforgettable tune "J'attendrai".
Django Reinhart is an iconic jazz musivian who is of Gipsy origin, he learnt playing music without ever reading a partition or following musical education (formal music education seems to me to be like SO2, it kills the life and energy...), and played beautifully in spite of severe burns that handicapped one of his hands. This beautifully-filmed recording was made in the United States in the late 1930s' or early 1940s'.
His music style has inspired lots of young musicians who play the Jazz Manouche type of jazz today (it has become a little too trendy and systematic to my taste these days...).
You might also listen to this other nice piece of music (on the right) of the legendary pair. Enjoy and pour yourself a glass of last year's Beaujolais.
Patrick Geoffroy was a trumpet player in Les Haricots Rouges, a very old french Jazz band before joining Les Employés du Gaz. He was a very energetic soloist and the neighboors must have been complicit Jazz lovers because no one complained from the appartments nearby. As I was listening I was stricken by his resemblance with french photographer Robert Doisneau. The other musicians were all great, including as soloists, except the clarinetist : I wish we could have heard him more and several musicians complained (jokingly of course) about him for leaving the band more than once to indulge himself with a glass of Beaujolais and chat with acquaintances (wouldn't be the guy a real GDF employee?-sorry, bad joke, I know...). I'll suggest that next time they hire Woody Allen for the job instead.
The picturesque location of Les Pipos, at the corner of the Rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève and rue de L'Ecole Polytechnique, in front of a little known square (Place de L'Ecole Polytechnique) makes it a magnet for Professeur Larue, who is at the same time a wine lover, a philosopher and the soul of the neighborhood (check Professeur Larue's website). this square, which is very small, was re-named by him Place Larue (underline : Penseur Mondain) as you can see on the fake street-plaque on the picture with the two men above. He organizes regularly events like this one with the blessing of the Pipos owner.
You might ask a question : what Beaujolais wine was served for this obituary ceremony ? a dark Gamay by Jean Claude Lapalu, cuvée "Le Rang des Merles" 2006, a tight-textured wine with red fruits aromas, I can understand why the party went on till 3 am that night...
Looks like quite an evening! Thanks for the pix.
Posted by: Dr. Vino | November 12, 2007 at 07:46 PM
quite a piece of chance for those who live in Paris........(for this kind of event.....).
As i live far in the south, in a little village....i have not this possibility of amusement.....
Posted by: mentrel | July 24, 2008 at 04:20 PM