On a somewhat lazy Sunday in late August I decided to walk around Manhattan looking for a place to continue writing my novel. I luckily stumbled across my favorite Mid Town East French haunt Le Bateau Ivre. Of course, I had to have a drink to better relax and enjoy the fine music being played. I chose a St Julien – Chateau Lalande 2009 – which proved to be the perfect selection for the day. It was amazingly well balanced and showed all of the characteristics of the little town that make it my favorite of Bordeaux. The jazz band that played today was perfectly on queue with both spirit of play with a perfect pick-up attitude and spicey blend for the day.  They were as follows : Andy Friedberg on guitar, Steve Doyle on the sublime Bass, and Yuichi Hirkawa on the ever present and truckin drum kit.

The very cool trio played equally well and balanced to keep up with the wine, as they kept the groove and vibe going for the obviously Sunday-sedate ( and possibly hungover ) crowd at the cafe. I am sure it is not easy to keep the fantastically cool nighttime freight train beat chugging along without upsetting the uninitiated jazz folk’s Moules-frites and Champagne. But these guys did it without even breaking a sweat. They were so damn smooth. In particular, their rendition of Stevie Wonder’s You Are The Sunshine Of My Life seemed ironically slick for a such a fine New York City day.

I recommend to anyone in Manhattan that is a fan of Jazz, great food and wine to visit Le Bateau Ivre on 51st between 2nd and 3rd to chill out on Sundays with these guys. There is no possibility of a regret.

Note: Steve is Monday regular at Birdland and Yuichi at Arthur’s Tavern on Tuesdays a so hopefully you can pick up their live music there if you can’t make it to Le Bateau Ivre.