Articles by Kristen Lee Sergeant

Jazz & Juice

Winter Wine & Song

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
February 4, 2026

These days, and especially in January, it seems like we're saturated in conversations about the question: “to drink, or not to drink?" The topic is nearly always about alcohol --a broad genus with many varied species from moonshine to Château d'Yquem. It's like talking about the entirety of foodstuffs as “calories" and failing to distinguish between an apple and a Dorito. Anyhow, I'm here to keep us on the artful side of things--so let's dim the discourse and get to ...

Jazz & Juice

Fall Sip & Swing Compilation

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
October 1, 2025

Dear All About Jazzers, Welcome back to your quarterly wine and song pairing, Jazz & Juice, where we all get to enjoy loitering at the intersection of wine and song. This is a collection of my favorite pairings from the past months--if you'd like to keep pace with me and the pairings this fall (and hear more about what I'm up to in both spheres), consider this your invitation to join your fellow Jazz & Juicers ...

Jazz & Juice

Sipping and Swinging into Summer

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
June 26, 2025

Dear All About Jazzers, Welcome back to your quarterly wine and song pairing, Jazz & Juice, which I hope inspires you to taste and listen with more delight. This trio of wine and song is poised to bring you into the festival season --let me know if any of these bottles find their way into your picnic baskets! If you'd like to get the pairing sent to your inbox every-other-Friday, I invite you to join a ...

Jazz & Juice

Tracks and Tipples to End the Winter

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
March 17, 2025

Dear All About Jazzers, Kristen here, your singer/songwriter/sommelier. I'm thrilled to be sharing my wine and song pairing, Jazz & Juice, with you once more. What started during the pandemic as a deep-dive series has now become a bi-weekly, two minute meditation on the pleasures of both music and wine, meant to be enjoyed at the pace of life. Here are three entries from the past months for you to enjoy. If you'd like to get ...

Interview

Lew Tabackin: On Becoming and Barolo

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
September 26, 2022

"You looking for Lew?" a waiter standing outside Gennaro, a homey Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side, asks as I scan the outdoor dining area for a sign of my interview subject for the evening. “He's inside." They definitely know him here. Ushered into the dining room, the staff graciously points me towards a table in the back, where Lew Tabackin, comfortably ensconced at a corner table with a promising bottle from his cellar, is ready for ...

Radio & Podcasts

Effervescence: Art Tatum Meets Champagne

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
May 7, 2022

Join Kristen in a conversation about what makes bubbles so, how no talent is ever undisputed, and how to marvel at the one man show that is the legendary Art Tatum, featuring Champagne by Ployez-Jaquemart and Tatum's rendition of “Night and Day" by Cole Porter. ...

Jazz & Juice

Effervescence: Art Tatum Meets Champagne

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
April 21, 2022

This edition of Jazz & Juice comes with a warning: both the bottle featured and the musician spotlighted are explosive, and should be handled with care. Uncork and listen responsibly. Effervescence When something sparkles, literally or figuratively, it bursts with life. In liquid, there is a perpetual motion of bubbles escaping in a dazzling show of speed within a seemingly static glass. When we listen to effervescent music, we experience something that lifts us in delight and velocity ...

Radio & Podcasts

Transparency: Ben Webster Meets Pinot Noir

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
March 26, 2022

Explore how the transparency of sound and of a grape can create transcendent effects. Kristen takes some detours in zen instruments, Kansas City jazz and the surprising 23andMe results for Pinot Noir... ...

Jazz & Juice

Transparency: Pinot Noir Meets Ben Webster

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
March 4, 2022

Welcome back to Jazz & Juice--after last month's venture into the opulent, it's a perfect time to venture into the idea of less being more. Transparency When something is transparent, we see beyond it. In a way, transparency gives us another dimension of appreciation; we not only experience the object or the work that we are seeing through, but also what is behind it. Seeing, or hearing, through something means experiencing its causes and influences, whether that be ...

Radio & Podcasts

Opulence: Grenache Blanc Meets Sarah Vaughan

by Kristen Lee Sergeant
February 22, 2022

Join Kristen for an exploration of opulence through a white Priorat and Sarah Vaughan's later work with the Count Basie Orchestra, discovering what makes something 'extra' in just the right way. ...