What an amazing person Nica was - fascinating how she grew up in this incredibly cocooned life in rural England - an enormous grand estate and how interesting her life intersected with that of Thelonius Monk - son of sharecroppers from the South....
Apparently she first heard "Round Midnight" en route catching a flight to Mexico to join her husband and family. Teddy Wilson played the album for her and she was transfixed - asking to hear it about 20 more times....and missing her flight. It wasn't until 2 years later she actually met Thelonius - but talk about soulmates - interesting there is no evidence of a love affair - other than a platonic one - he truly loved his wife Nelly. Nica seemed to be more an extra support system particularly when Monk was having serious mental issues.
I am with Stanley Crouch - I would like to time travel - to see the two of them and so many more - if only I could land on 52nd street in New York in bebops' heyday....
The film is beautifully done and surprisingly or not surprisingly none of her children or most of her family members wanted to talk about this fascinating creature - I think she was somewhat of an embarassment - I could only dream of having such a relative.
No comments:
Post a Comment