"the jazz baroness" documentary

The “Jazz Baroness” documentary premiered last year at the Telluride Film Festival and was subsequently picked up by HBO for distribution. The documentary is hard to classify. The title refers to Pannonica Rothschild, and her story is told by grand niece, Hannah Rothschild, after a decade of research into her aunt’s incredible life. Nica’s (as she was known throughout her life) relationship with legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk is the primary focus of the film. But it’s not a documentary about Monk and it leaves a lot of Nica’s own life unexamined.

What we do see unfold is the story of a niece who fleshes out the mysteries of her family tree. Hannah narrates the story and Helen Mirren provides the voice of Nica, bring to life her diary entries and letters. It wasn’t an easy task to get family members to discuss Nica’s life (none of her five children participated). Aside from archival sources, most of Hannah’s interviews were with Nica’s friends from the jazz world - who insisted that her story be told!

In brief, Pannonica was born in 1913, into the wealth and extravagance of all things Rothschild. She became a baroness (de Koeningswarter) by marriage in 1934. During the second world war, Nica followed her husband to the North Africa theater and aided the French Resistance. In the after the war her husband became a diplomat, and they eventually found the family stationed in Mexico. At that point she had a musically epiphany that changed the course of her life.

On the way to the airport for a flight back to Mexico, she stopped off to visit a friend. He turned her on to “Round Midnight” - at the time she had never heard of Thelonious Monk. According to Nica, she listened to it 20 straight times - and then a few more times for good measure! She never went back to her husband, leaving her marriage and moving to New York City. It’s unclear at that point how Nica raised her 5 children. But she did have the younger ones live with her.

She finally met Monk two years later - not in New York, but in Paris. Monk had lost his cabaret license and couldn’t play in the NYC clubs during that period. It was the beginning of their long, and intense relationship. Unclear is whether Monk and Nica ever more than platonic friends during all those years. Monk was married, and his wife was friends with Nica throughout that time. Monk’s son believes that Nica was in love with him, but didn’t speculate beyond that observation.

Regardless, Nica became an important part of the jazz scene and a fixture in Monk’s life. In 1955, Charles Parker died in her apartment. In 1958, she was busted for drug possession (claiming they belonged to her to avoid sending Monk and his sax player, Charles Rouse, to jail) when they drove to a concert in Maryland. She eventually moved out of New York, to New Jersey, into a house that she shared with more than 300 cats. Monk hated the cats, but put up with them for Nica.

Hannah met her grand aunt for the first time in 1984. She was shocked to find her drinking whiskey from a tea cup - in a downtown jazz club! Hannah located the club with Nica’s direction - just look for the car (her Bentley). Nica died in 1988, she was 75 years old. There were over 20 (maybe 24) songs written for (or about) Nica by the jazz musicians she associated with during her illustrious life.

The only sad thing about this otherwise fantastic documentary was the sense of wanting more when it ended. With a running time of just over 80 minutes, it seemed like there was so much more to say about her. Nica’s last request was to have her ashes spread on Hudson River, around midnight. Her friends and family obliged.

"anita o'day: the life of a jazz singer" movie review

"Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer," following on the heals of "Let’s Get Lost," the Chet Baker documentary, is the second straight riveting jazz film I’ve watched in as many weeks. If Chet Baker was a jazz great, Anita O’Day is a jazz legend. She’s a bona fide member the that select group of timeless female vocalists, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. "The Life of Jazz Singer" is a fast-paced, mesmerizing look at Anita O’Day’s equally frenetic, edgy career.

The subtitle of the film could easily have been, "That’s the way it went Down," Anita’s matter of fact response to the borderline obnoxious string of questions that a young Bryant Gumbel peppered her with during a t.v. interview. She had a practically unbelievable list of "highlights" to choose from - that included a long stretch as a heroin addict (15 years), 4 marriages, a stint in jail for marijuana possession, constantly broke (despite constantly booked), and performing well into her 80's!

That she survived that list is the real story. In the late 1960's Anita was pronounced dead, literally, in a hospital emergency room. Remarkably, she defied that somewhat premature prognosis and came back to life - to everyone’s astonishment but her own. Luckily, she took it as an omen to kick the heroin habit - which she did cold turkey! While no longer addicted to heroin, this incredible woman continued her 30+ year relationship with drummer, John Poole (a man she didn’t marry), a fellow heroin addict.

The film is hardly all about her hard times. One of my favorite parts of the documentary is Anita’s behind the scenes description of that iconic image of her in the feathered wide-brim hat and cocktail dress worn at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. When she asked her manager what time she went on, Anita was surprised (to say the least) when he said she had the afternoon slot! She went shopping that morning and picked out what she wore randomly. Together with her cool, sensuous performance of "Sweet Georgia Brown" it became an iconic career moment.

Another interesting aspect of the film it the generous use of album covers to paint the many sides on Anita O’Day over the years she recorded for Verve. And, in the same vein that the Chet Baker’s "Let’s Get Lost" juxtaposed him in present day performance against his younger self, watching a O’Day perform "The Nearness of You" in her mid-80's is powerful stuff. She was, in every definition of the word, a survivor.

This is a must-see film for any jazz fan - add it to your Netflix queue

"let's get lost" chet baker documentary

until i experienced "let's get lost," bruce weber's intense 1988 documentary of chet baker's turbulent life, i had only a limited knowledge of the man in his music. i had known him only as a sideman with jazz greats charlie parker and gerry mulligan - and, embarrassingly, had no idea that he sang! "let's get lost" opened my eyes to his legendary career in the 1950's and early 60's - and the tragic slide his life took from those highs.

filmed in black and white, and included significant input from baker himself before his tragic death in 1988 - it was nominated for an academy award for best documentary. the film tells his story via an eclectic group of fans, associates, children, and ex-wives. the jarring juxtaposition of the handsome (and healthy) 1950's baker with the worn, heroin-addicted 1980's version of himself is jaw-dropping.

despite the stark change, it doesn't present him as defeated. in fact, watching the 1988 chet baker intimate performance (albeit with less intensity) with his colleagues in the recording studio was upbeat and inspiring. the haunting parts of this documentary all focused on his children, in the present day, and how little of their lives he was involved in over the years. the saddest, in fact, were their descriptions of the one son who always managed to miss his dad's visits home - and, therefore, hadn't seen him in years.

the documentary illuminates how serious an artist he was and, amazingly, continued to be during his drug-ravaged years. it's worth watching the film just to see the chet baker at his best, in his glory days. despite the almost ad hoc nature of the film, the scenes were selected practically randomly for the narrative, "let's get lost" shows us the artistry of chet baker, and all the sacrifices he made for that art.

this is a "must see" for any fan of classic jazz.
and, for another great jazz documentary, check out: "anita o'day: the life of a jazz singer."