Thelonius Monk’s Muse
“The Jazz Baroness” is a made-for-television documentary that traces the background and mutual influence of the inventor of Bebop, Thelonius Monk, and his great supporter, muse and mentor — Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, also known as Nica Rothschild. Abandoning her husband, children and famous banking family in the late 1940s, she came to New York to become an aristocrat of a different kind: jazz nobility. The film makes its American debut November 25 on HBO2 and its director, Hannah Rothschild — Nica’s great-niece — recently sat down with the Forward’s art and culture editor to discuss cool cats, Rothschild secrets and what she’d learned from researching the woman Clint Eastwood said fully embraced the “rebellion” of Jazz and Bebop.
–Dan Friedman
Watch the first few minutes of “The Jazz Baroness”:
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
