Your summer, sitting-on-the-patio sippin' soundtrack
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| The Mojito is a traditional Cuban drink, perfect for the sounds of the Afro-Cuban All Stars’ boisterous and jazzy album (not pictured), “Live in Japan.” |
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By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
4/21/2007 11:32 AM
Planning a patio party? Here are music and complementary drink suggestions (with a little help from Bart Ford, owner of Under the Mooch record store in Tulsa and Matt Leland, manager of the Continental Club in downtown Tulsa) to help set a relaxed, fun-loving mood.
This year's music trends favor swingy, jazzy, bluesy space-age tones, perfect for setting a laid-back atmosphere while sipping a cocktail on a clear spring afternoon or evening:
1. AFRO-CUBAN ALL STARS
"Live in Japan"
(Two-disk CD/DVD, 2004, Globe Star Recording)
Recommended drink: Mojito
Including Latin standards, originals by musical director Juan De Marcos Gonz[ 190]lez and a handful of songs from the band's first two albums, this live compilation includes brash horns and a tight-as-a-drum performance from the 18-piece band. It's guaranteed to get you dancing on your deck, mojito in hand. Feel free to pop in the DVD while waiting for the mosquitoes to scram.
2. VARIOUS ARTISTS
"80's Hits Stripped"
(2006, Sidewinder Music)
Recommended drink: Screwdriver
Get naked with certifiable '80s megahits. The versions of these songs are performe either acoustic or, in the case of Thomas Dolby's "Blinded Me With Science," with one synthesizer. Included on this 15-track CD is everything from Berlin's "The Metro" and Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl," to Billy Squier's "The Stroke."
3. BRAZZAVILLE
"Welcome to ... Brazzaville"
(2004, Mimicry)
Recommended drink: Pomegranate Martini
A beautifully sexy bossa-novaish album with a twist of world music thrown in for an exotic flair. Lead singer David Arthur Brown's sweet, sad voice is vaguely reminiscent of pop crooner Evan Dando, with an added twinge of Nick Cave or even Tom Waits. Impressive for a man who, at age 15, was writing poetry while living as a runaway on the streets of Los Angeles.
4. JAPANCAKES
"The Sleepy Strange"
(2001, Kindercore Records)
Recommended drink: Champagne Punch
A creamy space age country album perfect for relaxing. The influences here are varied -- from ambient pop to country and classical. You'll be haunted by the clean, country-tinged pedal steel guitar, cello and drum work. What you won't hear is anyone singing, because the instruments do enough of that already.
5. JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY
"The Sameness of Difference"
(2005, Hyena Records)
Recommended drink: Gin Fizz
The internationally acclaimed Tulsa jazz trio rediscover their influences on this album, including Charles Mingus, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Dave Brubeck, Bjork, the Flaming Lips, Jimi Hendrix and more. With jazzed-up covers and several originals included in this collection, one critic recently crooned, "The playing of Brian Haas, Jason Smart and Reed Mathis saturates everything with beauty and brave emotion."
6. ERIC CLAPTON AND J. J. CALE
"The Road to Escondido"
(2006, Reprise)
Recommended drink: Whiskey Sour
J.J. Cale, an originator of the Tulsa Sound -- a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country and jazz influences -- wrote two of Eric Clapton's career-making hits, "Cocaine" and "After Midnight." For this collection, Cale's penned 11 of the 14 songs, which are a laid-back blend of the very influences that thrust Tulsa -- and Cale -- into the international music spotlight. Clapton hasn't sounded this relaxed in years, and Cale's intrinsic energy is more prominent than ever before.
7. ESQUIVEL
"The Best of Esquivel"
(2003, Import)
Recommended drink: Between the Sheets
Touted as "the king of space age bachelor music," this collection features the infectious xylophone, piano, horn, "ooh-ahhs," whistles, Hawaiian-tinged electric guitar-laden songs such as "Mucha Muchacha," "Mini Skirt" and "Johnson Rag." You'll be in a line, cha-chaing around the patio in no time.
8. WEEN
"Twelve Golden Country Greats"
(1996, Elektra)
Recommended drink: One Hot Minute
This is not your parents' country music album -- it's Under the Mooch owner Bart Ford's favorite album to listen to outside in the springtime. Ween's chameleon sound is often infused with with humor and parody, and this album is no exception, replete with fiddles, steel guitar, harmonica and vibrant -- and explicit -- lyrics.
9. BECK
"The Information"
(2006, Two-disk CD/DVD, Interscope Records)
Recommended drink: Metropolitan
Beck's newest album is the culmination of 12 years of his funk, pop, rock, folk, psychedelic and hip hop-influenced songwriting, all wrapped into a quirky CD case with a do-it-yourself cover complete with a set of decorative stickers. While not as rambunctious as his "Odelay" album or as soul-wrenching as "Sea Change," this is a relaxed yet up-tempo patio party album if we've ever heard one.
10. RICHARD CHEESE
"Aperitif for Destruction"
(2006, Surfdog Records Ada)
Recommended drink: Zombie
Lounge legend Richard Cheese's swanky Vegas swing band shamelessly covers rock, rap and Top 40 hits. Covers include Jane's Addiction, 2 Live Crew, Beastie Boys and Violent Femmes songs. The lyrics get raunchy, so be forewarned.
The drinks
1. MOJITO
2 ounce light rum
1/2 lime
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Mint leaves
Squeeze lime into chilled 10 ounce glass, add sugar and mint. Muddle until sugar is dissolved. Fill glass with crushed ice and pour rum. Swizzle until glass frosts, adding additional crushed ice and rum as needed. Garnish with mint leaves and serve with straws. Top off drink with cold club soda.
2. SCREWDRIVER
1 1/2 ounce vodka
5 ounce orange juice
Ice
Pour into a glass half full of ice cubes. Stir well.
3. POMEGRANITE MARTINI
1 ounce lemon flavored vodka
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce Chambord French black raspberry liqueur
1/2 ounce cranberry juice
1 ounce pomegranite juice
Ice
Shake gently with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
4. CHAMPAGNE PUNCH
1 cup cognac
1 cup maraschino liqueur
1 cup Curacao
1/2 cup sugar syrup
2 750-ml. bottles of champagne
Mix ingredients in a chilled punch bowl, with a block of ice. Add champagne before serving. Serves about 20.
5. GIN FIZZ
2 ounce Gin
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp powdered sugar
Club soda
Ice
Shake with ice and strain into a glass half full of ice cubes. Fill with club soda and stir well.
6. WHISKEY SOUR
2 ounce blended whiskey
1/2 tsp powdered sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Ice
Shake with ice and strain into a glass. Top with a lemon wheel and a cherry.
7. BETWEEN THE SHEETS
3/4 ounce brandy
3/4 ounce light rum
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce triple sec
Ice
Mix and shake ingredients well in a shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass over ice.
8. ONE HOT MINUTE
1 3/4 ounce silver or white tequila
2 ounce cucumber and apple juice puree
1/2 ounce Lillet Blanc
1/4 ounce agave nectar or simple syrup
1 tsp Tabasco brand Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce
Shake all ingredients and strain over fresh ice into a highball glass. Garnish with thin cucumber slices fanned and one chile pepper placed on the side of the glass.
For cucumber and apple juice puree:
Take one cucumber and peel off skin. Cut the cucumber into slices. Place in a blender and blend into a puree. Mix equal parts cucumber puree with unfiltered apple juice.
9. METROPOLITAN
1 1/4 ounce brandy
1 1/4 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 tsp sugar syrup
1 dash bitters
Ice
Stir with ice. Strain into a glass.
10. ZOMBIE
2 1/2 ounce light rum
1 ounce Jamaica rum
1/2 ounce 151-proof rum
1/2 ounce apricot-flavored brandy
1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1 small orange
2 tsp powdered sugar
1 ounce passion fruit syrup
Crushed ice
Blend all ingredients and 1/2 cup crushed ice at low speed for 2 minutes. Strain into a frosted glass. Top with a stick of pineapple and a cherry. Carefully float 151-proof rum on top. Add a sprig of fresh mint dipped in powdered sugar and serve with a straw.
Jennifer Chancellor 581-8346
jennifer.chancellor@tulsaworld.com
By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
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