Koenigswarter Pannonica de - Nicas dream: the life and legend of the jazz baroness

I Hear America Singing: An Introduction to Popular Music

The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness

Copyright 2011 by David Kastin

All rights reserved

Excerpt from Little Butterfly, copyright 1958 (renewed 1986), 1988 Thelonious Music Corp. and Boobar Publishing. Excerpt from Pull My Daisy, copyright 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 1971 by the Estate of Jack Kerouac. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books. Excerpt from Who Be Kind To from Collected Poems 19471980 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Excerpt from The Day Lady Died by Frank OHara. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books. Excerpt from Annus Mirabilis by Philip Larkin from Collected Poems . Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Ltd.

Frontispiece: Courtesy of Bruce Ricker; p. xiv: William Gottlieb Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kastin, David.
Nicas dream: the life and legend of the jazz baroness / David Kastin.1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-0-393-06940-2

1. Koenigswarter, Pannonica de.
2. ImpresariosUnited StatesBiography.
3. JazzHistory and criticism. I. Title.
ML429.K72K37 2011
781.65092dc22
[B]

2011013213

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For Laura and Alena, without whose love and inspiration

New Yorks 52nd Street in its late-1940s heyday, a time when swing-era stalwarts were giving way to a corps of young jazz modernists. William Gottlieb Collection. Music Division, Library of Congress

The manor house at Tring Park, where Nica spent many of her formative years. The grazing emus, a familiar presence on the four-thousand-acre estate, were part of Walter Rothschilds zoo and museum of natural history, the largest private collection in the world. Photograph by Samuel Glendenning Payne. Courtesy of Chris Reynolds; www.hertfordshire-geneology.co.uk

Nicas father, Nathaniel Charles Rothschild, hitches a ride on one of his brother Walters giant tortoises, as Walter looks on approvingly. Natural History Museum, London

Jules de Koenigswarter: banker, war hero, and diplomat. After twenty years of marriage and five children, Jules sued Nica for divorce after Walter Winchell broadcast the news of Charlie Parkers death in his wifes apartment. Courtesy of Muse de lOrdre de la Libration

This 1947 photo by William Gottlieb captures (from left) Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Teddy Hill in full bebop regalia at Mintons Playhouse, the birthplace of modern jazz. William Gottlieb Collection. Music Division, Library of Congress

News of Birds death in Nicas Stanhope Hotel suite devastated the jazz world, while the ensuing scandal made Nica a target of suspicion and resentment. New York Daily Mirror , March 15, 1955.

Lee Friedlanders photograph of a 1957 Riverside recording session shows the Baroness and an unidentified listener absorbed in the music of Thelonious Monk. In May of that year, the label released Brilliant Corners , the album that featured his homage to the Baroness, Pannonica, as well as his ode to her Central Park West apartment, Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are. Lee Friedlander; courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

In the spring of 1957, Esquire ran a photo-essay by Burt Glinn about the new home of New York bohemia. The magazines original caption read, In a corner of the Five Spot (left to right) are sculptor David Smith; Frank OHara, a poet; Larry Rivers and Grace Hartigan, both artists; an economist, Sidney Rolfe; dancer Anita Huffington; and Bill Hunter, a neurosurgeon. Bar jumps till four a.m. (Omitted from this impressive list was the woman holding a glass with her back to the viewer, the painter Helen Frankenthaler.) Photo by Burt Glinn, courtesy Magnum Photos

In 1958, while driving Monk to a gig in Baltimore, Nica stopped at the Park Plaza Motel and Bar so that Thelonious could get a cold drink. After being refused service, the pianistalong with Nica and the saxophonist Charlie Rousewere arrested, initiating a series of trials and appeals that dragged on for four years. Authors collection

Allen Ginsberg, who lived just a few blocks from the Five Spot, was a regular at Monks performances. One night, following the pianists last set, the two midcentury modernists had an opportunity to bond (circa 1960). Courtesy of Allen Ginsberg Collection

After a night of music and conversation, the sunrise transformed a baroness and a Beat poet into shadowy silhouettes. Courtesy of Allen Ginsberg Collection

In 1958, after being kicked out of some of New Yorks most exclusive hotels, Nica retreated to a Bauhaus aerie atop the Palisades in Weehawken, New Jersey, built for the director Josef von Sternberg. Authors collection

Monk and the Baroness at the Five Spot Caf (circa 1967) during one of his final engagements at the legendary jazz club. Raymond Ross Archives / CTSIMAGES.COM