Pannonica Continues...
Baroness PANNONICA ROTSCHILD, Thelonious Monk and Jazz.
Pannonica is spending everything on them, but it’s not a problem; in fact... it has become her mission.
"I may not inherit anything, but I can spend my money as I wish. And the money spent on jazz is well spent."
In March 1955, however, everything becomes complicated. Charlie Parker knocks on her door; he is sick, broken, destroyed. "Stay as long as you need," she says. Three days later, Charlie dies. A Black man dying in the hotel room of a wealthy white woman... married. Nica’s husband asks for a divorce, she is disinherited, and loses custody of her three minor children.
Three years later, the second deadly blow arrives. During a quiet stop at a bar in Delaware, Monk is attacked and severely beaten by three guys. The police arrive and, if possible, beat that Negro even harder. All for no reason. But he is Black, and she is white. They search the car... a bag of marijuana. For Monk, it would mean another conviction and the end of everything.
No hesitation. "IT'S MINE." He spends a few weeks in jail, facing 10 years, but for once a miracle happens. The lawyer finds the right loophole... they searched the car without consent.
He returns to New York to a house bought for him by his brother Vittorio. Her, Monk, his wife, and three hundred cats.
Monk begins to deteriorate irreversibly... but that is another story...
Nica will die in 1988, six years after Thelonious. Her ashes, according to her wishes, scattered in the Hudson River... at the time she specifically requested: 'Round Midnight'...
#specialtributes (24/1)
