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Great Book -- Three Wishes


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Great book, with photo's by Pannonica de

koenigswarter.

foreward by Gary Giddins. Finally in english, this lavish (cheap at $19.95) book collects a lot of the Barrones's intimate photographs of MANY amazing artists and also asks them what they would wish for if given 3 wishes.

sometimes winsome, mostly funny. This a must!!!! The photgraphs are all stunning. Anyone got this yet? :tup :tup :tup

f

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This looks like a very interesting book from a seminal woman in American jazz. And there is Monk on the cover too. :)

From the Product Description:

Product Description

An unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at jazz legends

In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, known as Nica, was a constant and benevolent presence on the thriving New York jazz scene. Known as the Jazz Baroness (she was born into the wealthy Rothschild family and later married a French aristocrat) she befriended such giants as Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Barry Harris, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, and many more. She inspired over twenty jazz compositions, bailed musicians out of jail, and even acted as a booking agent.

She also collected wishes. Over the course of a decade, Koenigswarter asked three hundred musicians what their three wishes in life were, jotting them all down in a notebook. At the same time she took hundreds of candid photographs, saving them all. In Three Wishes, Koenigswarter’s forays into the psyches and lives of these legendary jazz artists are made available in America for the first time.

With a foreword by celebrated jazz critic Gary Giddins, and a introduction from Nica’s granddaughter, Nadine de Koenigswarter, providing rare insights into the mysterious baroness’s life, this funny, eclectic, and moving compilation is a uniquely intimate look into the immortals of the classic era of jazz, and a must-have for any fan or afficianado.

About the Author

Pannonica de Koenigswarter, daughter of Charles and Rozsika Rothschild, was married to the Baron Jules de Koenigswarter, a renowned freedom fighter in the French resistance, before she moved to New York City, where she emerged as a major patron of the Jazz scene. Nadine de Koenigswarter, Nica’s granddaughter, is a multimedia visual artist living in Paris and West Africa. Gary Giddins is an award-winning jazz critic and author. He writes columns about music for Jazz Times and about film for the New York Sun.

http://budsartbooks.com/prod.cfm/pc/THRW/cid/23

Gotta check this one!

Edited by jostber
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There must be a more detailed thread about this boook around here somewhere. I remember Brownie commented on this book at length.

Indeed he did - with very positive recommendation I recall. I have the feeling that the price was also a lot more than $19.99 and it was in French language only.

Paging Monsieur Brownie.... :w

Edited by sidewinder
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this thread:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=13978

The book had a german edition sometimes last year, got it for x-mas and it's quite nice, indeed!

The photos are mostly "snapshots", not composed photographs, but they're a great bunch of photos to have. And the book in its german edition is set to look like written on an old typewriter etc, pretty cool (it's been published, I think, by Reclam).

The wishes themselves are, I think (but I'm not sure) in English (but that in the end doesn't make much of a difference, about 1000 or the total of 900 wishes - 3 by about 300 musicians - are "money" anyway... (sometimes it's simply "1. money, 2. money, 3. money" - but that's not what makes the book special, its the whole thing together that is very nice to have)

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  • 1 month later...

I have an indelible memory of being in New York City and going to see pianist Barry Harris at The Angry Squire, a club that used to be on Seventh Avenue at 23rd Street.

After an incedible set of music by the trio, we paid our check and proceeded to head for the exit along with other patrons. I was walking behind a very petite woman with long black hair and an even longer, full length fur coat. She was petite enough so the coat dusted the floor as she walked.

As we hit the front door to the street there was a shiny silver Bentley automobile double parked, right in front of the club.

The fur clad woman went directly to the already opened back door, closed it and was driven away into the night.

It dawned on me, immediately, that I was walking behind the Barroness Pannonica.

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that was her - she used to park in front of the fire hydrant by Bradley's downtown, even though there were parking spaces everywhere - she hated the Bird movie; Barry told me Eastwood said to her, after the showing, "what did you think of it?" she looked at him and said, "Clint, it was a goss."

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just ordered a couple of copies from amazon.com. very reasonable. i have memories of seeing Nica in the '60s in NYC jazz clubs. always made an entrance and an exit! reminded me a bit of Hedy Lamar (sp?) or Veronica Lake type. interesting the similarity of the name! of course, at that time i also thought she was an old woman but very glamorous nevertheless!!

Edited by ValerieB
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I wish I knew how to merge this thread with the one about "what we want to do and what we want to leave behind".

I read a review in Coda of the French edition of the book where the reviewer complained that most of the wishes were mundane. I think they were just humble. Sure some people wish to be rich but it's amazing how many of them are for things we think of as pretty basic. You have people we think of as famous wishing they could own a hose or have steady work. You also have great musicians wishing they could play better!

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I attended the gallery opening reception at Hermes last night. Barry Harris had a trio with Ray Drummond and Leroy Williams. Ira Gitler and Gary Giddins were there but I didn't see any other musicians. The original polaroids were framed and there were several pictures that didn't make it into the book including one of Cecil Taylor. It was quite a spiffy affair - champagne, fois gras, caviar.... Nica kept all her notes in an Hermes leather-bound book. It also helped that some Hermes directors are jazz fans.

Edited by Michael Weiss
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I attended the gallery opening reception at Hermes last night. Barry Harris had a trio with Ray Drummond and Leroy Williams. Ira Gitler and Gary Giddins were there but I didn't see any other musicians. The original polaroids were framed and there were several pictures that didn't make it into the book including one of Cecil Taylor. It was quite a spiffy affair - champagne, fois gras, caviar.... Nica kept all her notes in an Hermes leather-bound book. It also helped that some Hermes directors are jazz fans.

oh, how i wish i had been there. i'm more than a bit surprised that no other musicians attended. of course, most who were in the book are not able to. :( i'm loving the book. it puts me in the "sweet jazzland of deja-vu"!

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I attended the gallery opening reception at Hermes last night. Barry Harris had a trio with Ray Drummond and Leroy Williams. Ira Gitler and Gary Giddins were there but I didn't see any other musicians. The original polaroids were framed and there were several pictures that didn't make it into the book including one of Cecil Taylor. It was quite a spiffy affair - champagne, fois gras, caviar.... Nica kept all her notes in an Hermes leather-bound book. It also helped that some Hermes directors are jazz fans.

...would have loved to check out the original polaroids!!!

m~

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Nica obviously had money. I'm curious as to how she used it on a day to day basis. Did she pay for drinks at clubs? Cover people's cover-charges? Loan money to musicians? I'm not suggesting that she necessarily should have done any of these things. She was obviously very generous and seems to have handled her wealth in an intelligent way but I can't imagine that it never came up in her relationships.

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