d halfnote Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Pannonica Rothschild was born December 1913 in London, daughter of banker Charles Rothschild (yes, THOSE Rothschilds). Later married to Baron Jules de Koenigswarter; both were behind the lines partisans for Free French movement in various parts of N & Central Africa during WW2. After the war, he was appointed ambassador to Mexico (?!) but Pannonica seemed attitudinally incompatible with the role of diplomat wife & they eventually divorced. She relocated to NYC, the perfect place for a major jazz fan. She'd started listening to the music as a teen & soon was friendly with many of the upper echelon of jazz, frequently seen at clubs & offering her various homes for jam sessions & as abodes for those in need. She's most famous for housing Charlie Parker in his last days & her decades-long friendship with & support to Thelonious Monk. Pannonica had always taken photos of the scene and in the early 1960s she started a project that involved asking musicians (the eventual list reached 300) what their 3 wishes would be. Many responses were general & expectable: personal happiness, money, skills, fame, social / cultural statements, etc., but there are surprises. Recently those answers & many of her photographs have been published . [ http://www.abramsbooks.com/product/three-wishes_9780810972353/ ] Many of the photos are great. There's a 3 picture spread of Monk in impromptu dance in her living room; Sonny Rollins smoking a joint & composing; Cannonball Adderley looking up at what seems to be a ghostly apparition; Monk, in a blue suit with a blazing red tie, seated beside an elderly, bearded Coleman Hawkins...before them on a table is a complete set of Beatles dolls set up as if performing. Most intriguing are 2 shots of the young Miles Davis. I guarantee you have never seen Miles as he's shown in these photos. Some examples from the wish lists: Oscar Peterson wishes "to be able to play the way I really want" . One the primary pianists of the 20th C can't play they way he really wants ? Paul Bley emphatically wishes to never again hear a chord. SPECIAL GTR & BASS CONTENT Wes Montgomery desires 1: Happiness. 2: No discrimination. 3: Peace. His brother Monk Montgomery agrees on social issues ("I wish the older people would let young people think for themselves") but saves his last wish for "to be able to beat you in ping pong, just once". Some are spacey: Wayne Shorter wishes for peace on Earth & "them other planets" while his namesake Al Shorter wishes "to live more than my life". Al Heath would like to be able to be in more than one place at once but is topped by Percy Heath, who would like [1] to visit another planet, [2] to have something to do when he got there & [3] to have a way to get back to Earth. Clearly that was something he'd been considering for a while. Some are stunning: Roy Eldridge hopes to return to electronics shool "so I won't have to blow that damned horn anymore". John Coltrane finishes his list (inexhaustible freshness in his playing, immunity from illness) with a desire for " 3 X increase in his sexual power". Take that hero worshippers ! Sun Ra would like to have an instrument flexible enough to express the mood of any being, even a cat or bird. The pals Bud Powell & Thelonious Monk offer both the most sad & happy wishes: Powell, would like to "never have to go back to those hospitals & doctors". Monks tells Pannonica he'd wish for musical success, a happy family & "a crazy friend like you". When she says, "But Monk, you have all those things!" he just tilted his head & smiled. _________________________ d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 1 time boost for those who may've missed it during the holidaze d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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