Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico Reeds- The Blues In Jazz, the connection and conviction.

My Blog this week is dedicated to John Coltrane. A positive force in this music, a person who never stopped learning,a player and a benchmark for all.Thank you sir for your life long inspiration and guidance.

Coltrane's playing had the blues in it- just listen to " COLTRANE PLAY'S THE BLUES"...On Atlantic records or "Blue Trane". If you play jazz, and your playing is void of the blues feel, and sound you are lacking in something very basic, and a vital element to this art form.From Louie Armstrong to Ornette, it's heard and felt.

This weeks Rico Blog is highlighting improvistaion using blues and pentatonic ;


In Pentatonic scale use you can use a C Pentatonic scale over these
chords;

C maj 7
C7
Dminor7
D7sus 4
Emi7b5
Fmaj7
G7sus4
Ami 7
B7b9sus4
Bbmaj7
F# dom7
F#mi7b5

A player like "Thin man Watts" is a very strong blues&pentatonic
player. He know's what he's doing.
To take it a step further....

On a D minor7th....chord you can use C pent. over it & its gonna be
funky. On a C maj 7....chord you can also use a D pent and is going to be
singing and funky.

This one by the way...is a fav of Pharoah Sanders on Maj 7th
chords...it sounds beautiful.

BUT. Also on a C dom 7th chord you can build a pent scale off the SHARP
4th..and it will be hip to. EG~ C7...use F # pent.

Check out this blues lesson I have on Sax On The Web about Thin man
Watts;
http://www.saxontheweb.net/Price/Blues1.html#Watts
Its a lick from his CD-" Return Of The Thin man".

The tune- " SLOP BUCKET."
IT GOES THRU EVERY KEY OF THE BLUES...within Thin mans rhythmic bag.
You can't beat his-TIME-feel of' being funky.

Thin man played things that you could FEEL.
Thin man was a running buddy of the Adderly brothers...was in school
in Florida with them as a young dude.

More folks NEED to get hip to Noble Thin man Watts...as his playing
carried a message. He told a story!! That aspect today is becoming a
lost art.

NOT ONLY..could he funk the club down but he was a strong jazz player
as well. As a kid,, I heard a 60s organ band at this club in my home town.
The club was a semi-famous joint called the "Grand Hotel".
It was aside of a railroad station, and had organ groups on
weekends. I played Wednesday nights...and could slide in for free, and under
age on weekends to catch stuff. SO,,one weekend there's this wild band from
NYC there. The sax player was as skinny as a telephone poll !!!
Later I found out it was a guy named -NOBLE THINMAN WATTS.
As I got in the club and stood at the side door....near the band...I
Ya could hear him on 2 blocks down the street...PREACHING TENOR .
I NEVER FORGOT THIS GUYS PLAYING...it was like a tattoo on my soul.People for
months in that joint " the Grand Hotel" were still talkin' about the THIN MAN on sax
playing there.

Check out these Sax On The Web lessons of mine for ideas and phrases on the
blues. Each lesson is very different but still deals with some aspect of blues playing via jazz.

http://www.saxontheweb.net/Price/Blues2.html

http://www.saxontheweb.net/Price/RootlessMajorChord.html
Look further down in this one...I have a lick on Birds "Now's The Time" thru 12
keys.

ALSO CHECK OUT FOR YOUR EAR ;
http://www.geocities.com/saxontheweb/Price/Sept01.html

This lesson , also has some ear training
via a nice line to play thru the keys by ear.
Then, as usual, a line thru all keys thru some important progressions.
Also , for those interested , start to take
the past lessons and memorize them. Then take
the lines and re-write them for yourself.

Try to use some different intervalic connections
and even the use of rests and rhythm.

Keep in mind- I teach in NYC and Pa. and
do clinics.I'm interested in
ALL aspects of education.I teach all levels
also. Just ask me- I travel worldwide.


I hope this brings some light to your shed time and also let me add,
my feeling is that if you've absorbed a lot of the known vocabulary of the
greats , then you'll naturally gravitate to looking for other things ,
or even begin to hear things of a different nature, that the basis of this is an individual wanting to create something that is personal.Personal isn't always something new and different,but sometimes it is,it's personal.Coltrane ,when he was interviewed in Downbeat in 1961 said something to the effect of : " The artist tries to convey to the listener a sense of all of the things he knows of in the universe ... " Knowledge, there is the factor as far as I'm concerned, you know! Depth and conviction should be your motivation no matter what.Conviction ,,, there's the real prize .

HERE'S A LESSON ALSO- Replace the vapid youtube videos you watch on youtube with classic jazz recordings- why not check out some Coltrane records...such as ;Complete Savoy Sessions John Coltrane, Wilbur Harden. Check THAT out!

Till next week- enjoy the fall weather and see you next week.

~ Tim Price

Tim Price Bloggin For Rico- My man Andy McGhee

~ In this life..respect from a peer that is a friend and an influence and a teacher is worth it's weight. This is my story on Andy McGhee.

Today,I made a beet salad,for dinner and had gone to finish shedding some things I was working on....The phone rang, and my wife spotted caller ID which said- Andy McGhee.
'
She told Andy I was practicing. After a few laughs, a two hour conversation continued about everything from books of mine he used in his lessons with current students, which I am still totally humbled by, to just things about the life inthis world as a saxophone player.

Years ago in 1969, I had my first lesson with Andy at Berklee. It was a great day, I'll never forgot it! He set me straight. At age 17.I had yet to register for the draft and had no idea of the life long friendship that would develop, as it happened.Ditto Mariano and LaPorta and Viola. Every lesson Andy set the bar, and never let me coast.Andy never let a student become a lamb to a slaughter...he was street smart and educated. Everyone from Cecil Taylor to Percy Marion can attest to his dedication as an educator.

In ensembles, he'd school me and help me on the most hippest of things. He also taught me how NOT to be a player that gave it up. Someone who just played and never got paid. He made sure I knew not to be let any BS happen on any level. And he'd tell you. Andy mentioned me in a Boston Globe article back in 2/15/2002 by Bob Blumenthal, Globe Correspondent, as one of his students that I made all the lessons and he dug.To me that means more than anything.

As time went on...we became great friends. I never realized his birthday was November 3ed and mine was November 1st...When I told him that as we had Thai dinner with my wife years ago when I turned 50 ( It seemed like it was yesterday!!! ) He said to my wife ( who is NOT a musician ) that's because Tim is to busy trying to get to all my licks!! hahaha...Which has some truth!! LOL. Charlie Mariano was a Scorpio too, which all made sense if you know me. And Andy loved Charlie! Who don't ? Charlie is universal love!!

So today,it's just one of those things.He made my day! I used to dig the Woody Herman record with Andy and Sal and Joe Romano. Little did I ever think I'd know them, or play with them. Andy was also in the " hot seat" with Lionel Hampton. That was the hot seat of hot seats. Stand up and burn every night and not stop!! He had everyone's attention. But also he was smart.He raised a family, and had a life. Another lesson !!

The late Makanda Ken McIntryre told me that when Makanda studied with Andy....ANDY WAS THE CAT. Andy was _the guy_ at the after-hours gigs ALL the recording guys like Trane would come to sit in with Andy was- CUTTING EDGE. Plus- Makanda saw some of those sessions because he was from Boston etc...and told me that a young Andy was playing some stuff that made those guys stop and think. I have no trouble thinking twice about that...because Andy is as good as it gets. Think about it- He sat aside of Sal Nistico and Frank Foster in Woody's band.


I learned a LOT from Andy...in 1969 he got me studying Tranes solo on Oleo.
Andy defined " hip" also in a certain way,he has INNER SOUL...you can feel it.
I can't say enough about him...he is one of my favorite people and musicians.

Andy calls me,and has become a family member. He cares.Ya know I got MORE out of Berklee than my moneys worth due to guys like Andy and Joe Viola,John LaPorta and Charlie Mariano.

He talked today about my Cannonball book- and Lennie Johnson. That took ,e back to 1140 Boylston st. Lenny was the one that told me to transcribe Cannonball to chill out the tenor stuff < eg- get away from all the tenor cliche stuff > in my playing.I mention that in my book- and Nat Adderley knew who Lenny and Andy were in a NY minute.

Andy McGhee has some great books out himself thru Berklee press ; Improvisation for Saxophone and Flute: The Scale/Mode Approach and Modal Strategies for Saxophone.

Jazz...and jazz education is lucky to have someone as REAL as Andy in it's ranks ans also committed to the real thing.

A friend, teacher and world class tenor saxophonist.He's made a difference in my life. Andy McGhee, thank you for being not only real but being the essence of what this music is supposed to be!! I think a trip to Boston for some Thai with Andy is in order!

~ Tim Price

Tim Price Blogging For Rico-Seamus Blake In The house ! Seamus joins Rico Reeds.

Tim Price Blogging For Rico-Seamus Blake In The house ! Seamus joins Rico Reeds.

Pat Metheny described him as "the best tenor player I've heard in a couple of years" (Jazz Times), that John Scofield hired him for his Quiet Band,calling him "extraordinary, a total saxophonist" or that he placed 1st in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in February 2002, all that only attests a part of this very interesting musician's course.A long standing member of the Mingus Big Band -featuring on their recordings on Dreyfuss - and also borrows his sax to some of the most intriguing bands of the modern scene, like Bloom daddies (a funky,alternative grunge jazz. Right up my alley,and something I'm looking to hear live soon.), and last but not least the very jazz Sangha Quartet.He's busy!

My favorite Seamus CD these days seems to be " Live In Italy". Amazing music-and
Seamus is joined here by pianist David Kikoski, bassist Danton Boller & drummer Rodney Green. The entire group is in top form especially David Kikoski who takes many stand out solos from greasy shuffle funk to straight ahead post bop. One particular thing I dig about Seamus is how he utilizes electronic effects on his tenor like wah wah & echo delay but the effects never threaten to overwhelm the natural sound of the horn, rather they enhance the mood and enforce Seamus's ideas. There is a master class in itself. I can't say enough good stuff about what I've heard and the notes and tones that he's creating.And " Darn That Dream" is beautiful! To me that is worth the price of admission.

Last but not least...I've been working on some things to help students in workshops and in lessons. You got to think past your horn.Be prepared, as in knowing the music inside and out. ALSO- don’t judge yourself,get out of your own way.Stay in shape-eat right and don't be _that guy_who's hung over at a rehearsal or tired. Get your rest, this is after all your life and employment.Be responsible-nobody owes you a thing.
But really get out of the way, and let the music happen.

OK- Here's a project for you saxophonists.
Learn to play in 3/4 ! Learn some jazz melody's in 3/4, anything from " Someday My Prince Will Come" to " Up Jumped Spring" and "West Coast Blues".

Some other's I love to play, that require some work are-Monk's "Ugly Beauty", Denny Zeitlin's "I, Thou", Wayne Shorter's "Iris", Richie Bierach's "Nightlake", Sonny Rollins' "Kids Know", Herbie Nichols' "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love".

Years ago I heard Rico artist Mel Martin play " Take The A-Train" in 3/4...I liked it so much that I have been doing it since hearing him at a Sunday brunch in NYC at Sweet Basil. By the way, you should be hip to Mel. He's as great as they come.He knows the history of the music, and loves it. His music has a special quality,and he is a one of a kind saxophone player, his playing is beautiful. When he solos he tells a story, you hear a personal huge sound and he is not a cliche player.I heard him a few years back in NYC play flute on a George Russell tune and I am still thinking about it! Check Mel out- you'll love him madly!

Here's a great Rico video of Mel's I always tell my students to study ;

Mel Martin On Articulation http://youtu.be/ShFqZzXI-WU


Till next week...Remember to strive for tone, and enjoy life!

~ Tim Price

“If you look for the imperfections in others, you are sure to find them. But oh, life is so much better looking for the good.” -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico Reeds- Albert Ayler

In 1969 Albert Ayler said, "Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe."

As the fall approaches us, in this beautiful September,that quote rings so true. The healing force. But how many have heard it? How many have taken the time to adjust their lives and realize what Albert was saying back then in 1969? Everyone brings to the table what they have to put on the table, others come to eat, others come to just smell the food.In this lifetime...I'm here for the music. I've seen the results.

To me Ayler's communication of a feeling is so much a part of art's deep value,that knowledge through the emotions.That is what is missing today. It just can't be taught! This essential aspect involving the heart and soul is another level. Almost beyond words! But for Ayler, words were not important because when Albert Ayler played he spoke to you. I heard his voice, and it was a different than the profound texture in his playing.

He was a transcendent master of fusing spirituality with music and a modern spiritual guide to present day music. He takes kind, gentle, hummable melodies and stretches them, he created a beautiful unique sounds that you'll never hear anywhere else.

There is a composition, " For John Coltrane"
(played by alto and strings only)
In which Albert plays only alto sax, with a string section.
It should be on > Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village.
It was done February 26, 1967, The Village Theatre, New York.
The strings are, if memory serves;
Joel Freedman (cello)
William Folwell (bass)
Alan Silva (bass)
That writing was exceptional and proved to me the genius that
Ayler had within him. Michel Sampson was on violin on many Ayler dates and within Silva and Richard Davis, there was a HEAVY string overtone.

I'm still trying to find this recording
called-
La Saga Heroique d'Albert Ayler
( on- Pathe (France) 2C.154-92337 )
I'd LOVE to get that music.
If anyone can get me a copy PLEASE do so. It's a French label.

I don't hear anybody REALLY steppin out like this.

The art form -
Albert addressed that.

His trio work on "Spiritual Unity" is something everyone should have, and listen to as much as possible.It's part of the free jazz canon by now,if you haven't, I can't recommend it enough.I say it's uplifting, the first listen might be shocking but hang in there, you'll never be the same. Ayler was supported and admired by many of his contemporaries, including 'Trane on through present day masters such as Jan Garbarek and thousands of others.

Albert Ayler - Ghosts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtiSA2RKDzc

albert ayler - new grass - heart love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJAq_1OyO7o&feature=related

Search for more Albert Ayler on you tube- and enjoy him.

Remember, "Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe."

Being a complete musician goes well beyond the notes- I learned that from listening to the music of Albert Ayler.


Keep positive and in the zone- Tim Price

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- Jazz Repertoire

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- Jazz Repertoire

Listen to the You Tube video first ;

Tim Price Jazz- Jazz Repertoire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vsarjAoQtE

The following tunes are among those most commonly played by jazz musicians. I have made an attempt to categorize them based on how they are usually played. Most of the compositions are by jazz musicians, except for the ones marked "standard".

You should try to become familiar with as many of these tunes as possible. Most of them can be found in the Real Book or in Chuck Sher's books.



All Blues blues, modal
All Of Me standard
All The Things You Are standard
Anthropology rhythm changes, swing
Au Privave blues, swing
Autumn Leaves standard
Beautiful Love standard
Beauty And The Beast rock
Billie's Bounce blues, swing
Black Orpheus Latin
Blue Bossa Latin
Blue In Green ballad, modal
Blue Monk blues, swing
Blue Train blues, swing
Blues For Alice blues, swing
Bluesette 3/4, swing
Body And Soul ballad, standard
C Jam Blues blues, swing
Caravan Latin, swing
Ceora Latin
Cherokee swing
Confirmation swing
Darn That Dream ballad, standard
Desafinado Latin
Dolphin Dance modal, non-tonal
A Foggy Day standard
Footprints 3/4, blues, modal
Freddie Freeloader blues, modal
Freedom Jazz Dance non-tonal
Four swing
Giant Steps swing
The Girl From Ipanema Latin
Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat ballad, swing
Have You Met Miss Jones standard
I Mean You swing
I Remember Clifford ballad, swing
I Thought About You standard
If I Were A Bell standard
Impressions modal
In A Sentimental Mood ballad, swing
In Walked Bud swing
Just Friends standard
Killer Joe swing
Lady Bird swing
Lullaby Of Birdland swing
Mr. P.C. blues, swing
Maiden Voyage modal
Misty ballad, standard
Moment's Notice swing
My Favorite Things 3/4, modal, standard
My Funny Valentine ballad, standard
My Romance standard
Naima ballad, modal
A Night In Tunisia Latin, swing
Nica's Dream Latin, swing
Nostalgia In Times Square swing
Now's The Time blues, swing
Oleo rhythm changes, swing
On Green Dolphin Street Latin, swing, standard
Ornithology swing
Recorda Me Latin
Red Clay rock
Round Midnight ballad, swing
St. Thomas Latin
Satin Doll swing
Scrapple From The Apple swing
The Sidewinder blues, swing
So What modal
Solar swing
Some Day My Prince Will Come 3/4, standard
Song For My Father Latin
Speak No Evil modal, non-tonal
Stella By Starlight standard
Stolen Moments blues, modal
Straight, No Chaser blues, swing
Sugar swing
Summertime standard
Take The "A" Train swing
There Is No Greater Love standard
There Will Never be Another You standard
Up Jumped Spring 3/4, swing
Waltz For Debby 3/4, swing
Wave Latin
Well, You Needn't swing
When I Fall In Love ballad, standard
Yardbird Suite swing


The process of internalizing music is a matter of
slow repetition of very small segments of a piece of music or a
technique of playing the instrument. This repetition ingrains what is
being learned deeply in our subconscious. The goal is to work on
something until it seems to play itself. Once a musician has a repertoire, they can go out and play with many others.At least this is how it has worked for me,and many others through the decades. Being a complete musician goes well beyond the notes.



The first step in practicing something is to understand what areas of
the piece or scale are less familiar to us, what we used to think were
the hard parts. The next step is to spend time visiting and revisiting
those areas until our fingers, ears and breathing become comfortable and
familiar with them. Sound too simplistic? Maybe it is, but it is true.
( example B- Stan Getz playing " Early Autum". )


It may take weeks or months or sometimes years for our
bodies to allow these actions to occur without conscious thought.
One of the most important steps in this process of learning is to not
look at a printed page of music. Play things without looking at the
music You might say, I can't memorize things so easily. Well this is
NOT memorization. This is learning something very deeply. Play a small
portion of a phrase over and over. But while playing it, use your EAR
and LISTEN to the music you're playing. Then try to sing the phrase away
from the instrument. Try to play the phrase starting on different notes.
If this seems overwhelming take another approach.
Sing the first few bars of the song Happy Birthday. Now play the song on
your instrument starting on any note. Now once you figure it out and it
feel comfortable, play it starting on other notes. When this feels
comfortable playing the tune on all twelve notes you can feel confident
you know that tune.
(( example C- listen to Monk play solo
on some basic song ))

Only work with very small segments of music and don't move on
to other areas until that one area is thoroughly learned.
When we ingrain the techniques of playing an instrument and understanding the
rudiments of music so thoroughly we
remove the need for conscious thought to help us execute the music.
( This is the start of the Alpha State. )

At this point one's unique voice can be expressed through the music. Master
means to learn something so thoroughly that one always executes it
correctly - This type of
practicing can seem to take a long time.

Your the time spent internalizing something is shorter than one thinks.
Try to remember the times when you practiced a piece over and over and
there were a few passages that were always difficult which never felt
quite right. You perform the piece and kind of get through those
passages and say , glad that's over. But a month later
you have to play the piece again for a gig or and those same passages are no
easier.
If one took the time to properly internalize that music it would not
only always be with you but any of the problems that were conquered
while spending time with the piece would carry over to other pieces that
have similar challenges.
The more material which is learned in this
thorough manner, the easier music in general starts to become. When
enough stuff is gained, most music played will be done with little or
no conscious thought, thus allowing one's voice to happen.
This will happen because there will not be any technical hurdles to
conquer in the music or on the instrument.

When practicing, don't try to conquer an entire work at once. Live with
a small passage until it becomes easy.

If a mistake is made, then go back and spend more time working the passage
slowly until you don't have to think about what you are doing.

Have patience,listen to what you play-find the problem areas and
fix them via slow repetition. Also enjoy the process of practicing
and the sounds you produce.

Jazz is food for the soul and this
includes music made while practicing.

Think about it- it's THAT easy !

Be thankful for another day on the planet.Music and life are a gift!
Put positive energy out there, and be glad you have the ability to play music and enjoy your life.

Till next week- strive for tone-and do something good for someone else- Tim Price

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- Todays student needs substance !

~Improvising means creating music that is spontaneous, of the moment, and uniquely your own. So think of it as the instrument becomes a process of self-discovery, finding out what your music really sounds like. You develop a period of looking within, stripping away the excess and listening for the simple voice that really is our own. It’s there, listen for it. I wish I had arrived at these ideas earlier in life. It would have saved me a lot of unnecessary toil. But like it is sometimes said, you are ready when you are ready. These are very important topics- are YOU ready?

Being able to improvise on I GOT RHYTHM changes appears much more as a puzzle or study that must be negotiated than as an opportunity look within and reach for new sounds you hear. Improvising means creating music that is spontaneous, of the now, and your own. It will not get played if you yourself don’t play it, and try.

You have to focus your practicing for maximum progress towards creating a powerful forward motion as a player. Add personal guidance of a master teacher and artist, and you’re poised to grow as a musician and as a performer. This is the way I learned with master players-educators like Charlie Mariano, Charlie Banacos ( I was lucky to study with Banacos since 1994 till 2010 ) Sal Nistico, Joe Viola, Andy McGhee and John LaPorta.These men were a beautiful category of a jazz pro who both knows what he is doing, and is willing to share. Thank god for them!

Today's student needs substance ! Plus how to focus practicing of improvising on the essential elements,the actual substance of what to play and how to develop it in your personal style, and dealing with practicing of specific vocabulary. It's what I call, what to shed! Then you got to understand jazz is part of culture. Bird, Prez,Basie,Pee Wee Russell, Roland Kirk, Duke, Hawk and all those giants who gave something to culture. What did they have? They had the the building blocks of jazz improvisation. MELODY ! Then guide-tone lines, and melodic Rhythm. Real world building blocks of jazz improvisation.

IN A WORD- BASICS THAT WILL LAST YOUR ENTIRE CAREER!

Also check out the new ... TIM PRICE JAZZ VIDEO...captured/recorded and filmed last Monday by great friend/ former student Nathan Bellott. ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4LFnzsMYW0&feature=share

Till next week- Put positive energy out there!

~ Tim Price

www.timpricejazz.com

Tim Price Blogging For Rico-Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter- " Nica's Dream".

It’s a misty night in 1969 in Boston, I'm standing outside the Jazz Workshop on Boylston Street waiting to go see Thelonious Monk. A silver Rolls-Royce parks right in front of the club, behind the wheel is a beautiful brunette, a chinchilla stole draped over her shoulder and a cigarette holder between her teeth. Before she turns the Rolls off she takes a long hit from a silver flask, she exits the car and down the steps into the famed " Jazz Workshop". The Jazz Baroness has arrived!

As a teenager, I read liner notes on records, and articles in Down Beat about this famed woman of jazz and there she was before my eyes. As I remember back to that week of hearing Monk every night for a week! ( Charlie Rouse put me on the guest list, that's another blog unto itself. He's one of my hero's as you might have known.)

The Jazz Baroness was raised in fairy-tale splendor, Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild de Koenigswarter (known as “Nica”) piloted her own plane across the English Channel, married a French baron, fought in the French Resistance, and had five children. Then she heard a recording of Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight.” Inspired by the liberating spirit of jazz, Nica left her family, moved to Manhattan, and began going to the city’s jazz nightclubs non stop.

The tabloids first splashed her name across the headlines after Charlie Parker died in her hotel suite—a scandal that sadly cast a dark shadow over parts her life. Press be dammed,she became a legend as the major force as a woman she was. Not only a woman that was immensely beautiful, but strong emotionally, mentally brilliant beyond words, and a complete positive force for those she cared about! What a brilliant one of a kind woman! Wow!! Nearly a score of jazz compositions have been written in her honor, including two of the most beloved classics of the genre: Horace Silver’s “Nica’s Dream” and Monk’s “Pannonica.” Any jazz student or musician worth their salt, should know those tunes, without a lead sheet, by the way. Also some other amazing tunes written for her ; " Nicas' Tempo"" by Gigi Gryce, Sonny Clark- " Nica", Kenny Dorham " Tonica", Freddy Redd " Nica Steps Out", Kenny Drew " Blues For Nica". One of her abstract paintings was even used as the cover art for Bud Powell’s 1961 album " A Portrait Of Thelonious" - That Bud Powell recording might be one of the greatest Monk tributes I ever heard.

As an avid fan of 1950s jazz, I had read about "the Jazz Baronness," Pannonica de Koenigswarter, an heir to the Rothschild fortune, in numerous articles and books about the people who populated the New York jazz scene in those days. When I read about the publication of "Nica's Dream," the first book-length biography devoted this patron of modern jazz, I downloaded the book to my Kindle and looked forward to a great read. Having finished it yesterday, I have to say I am so inspired by this book. I am going to buy the hard copy too.

This is a must read! There are some genuinely interesting episodes and adventures as well as touching anecdotes that demonstrate her genuine affection and esteem for the many great musicians she befriended. But it is that very episodic quality, which continues throughout the book, that ultimately makes it an interesting read rather than a great one.

In this book, " Nica's Dream" author David Kastin has spent the last few years immersed in the world of "Nica" - as those who knew her well referred to the jazz baroness. His biography is beautifully written, endlessly fascinating.

It is Nica's connections to the jazz world - to sax legend Parker, to the fabled keyboardist and composer Monk, to Art Blakey, to Bud Powell, to a veritable Who's Who of bebop and modern jazz players - that drew Kastin to his subject.

March 12, 1955, after several days of convalescence the baroness (with periodic visits from the hotel physician), Parker collapsed and died. "Bird" was 34. The tabloids went wild: "Bop King Dies in Heiress' Flat!"

At the moment she first heard a recording of Monk's "'Round Midnight" - on a 1951 visit to New York from Mexico City, where her husband, Baron Jules de Koenigswater, served as France's ambassador - Nica's life changed. "I couldn't believe my ears," she said almost 35 years later, recounting how she asked her friend, pianist Teddy Wilson, to play the record over and over and over again. "'Round Midnight' affected me like nothing else I ever heard."

Nica left her husband in Mexico and moved to New York with the oldest of their five children, a teenage daughter, Janka. They took lavish digs at the Stanhope Hotel. Nica began frequenting the jazz clubs, became friends with the promoters, the owners, the musicians. Before long, the "Jazz Baroness" - chic and sophisticated, free-thinking and free-drinking - was hosting jam sessions in her suites, sneaking the hungry, often broke, artists up the hotel's service elevator.

Soon after Parker's death, Nica was asked to leave. She found a similarly luxe living situation in a hotel on the opposite side of Central Park.

The baroness' "moveable feast" of a jazz salon resulted in more than 400 hours of annotated and archived recordings: Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Sun Ra, Lionel Hampton, Donald Byrd, Horace Silver (whose song, "Nica's Dream," Kastin took for his book's title) - they all played for Nica. It's an epic and extraordinary aural document. The "Pannonica Collection" remains in the hands of her heirs, and has, until now, been unavailable.

"Nica's Dream" would make for a great movie - although there's so much here that a miniseries might be more accommodating. But it certainly makes for a great book. Kastin has served his subject well, offering a rich and tumbling portrait of a force to be reckoned with - no dilettante or groupie or interloper, but a woman who was inspired by, and in turn inspired, many of the reigning figures of the jazz universe.

I think any author would have had difficulty with the organizational problems inherent in telling 'Nica's story. There are only so many ways you can tell the reader that she was a Rothschild, that she drove a Bentley at breakneck speeds with a cigarette holder clenched between her teeth helping musicians get to gigs or get out of trouble, and was a decent and caring human being. In this case, it is enough to make for an interesting and sometimes engaging read. a great biography.

Beyond her long cigarette holder, leopard skin coat and infamous Bentley. These objects by which she was identified were not symbols of her glamour but of her mystique, speaking not of who she was, but of the world she left behind. She made jazz a better place and she stood for something without putting a spotlight on herself !

~ You owe it to yourself to read " Nica's Dream" by David Kastin

Till next week- Tim Price

PS ;

THAT SAID,

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.

I literally could not put this book down. It is fascinating, well-written, and immensely entertaining. It may be the best jazz "biography" I've read.

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. GET THIS BOOK TO DEAR BLOG READER!

Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats by-

Pannonica de Koenigswarter

.

Pannonica over course of a decade, collected wishes from some 300 musicians; alongside vibrant, smoky Polaroids, these wishes--though plenty go to money, health and more wishes--provide a brief glimpse into each subjects' dreams: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley wishes for a jazz artists' subsidy organization; Dinah Washington wishes for triplet girls; and Charles Mingus wishes for "enough to pay my bills, but that's absolutely all." Not everyone wishes deep: Bill Hardman wishes for "a crazy old lady". Many wished for money.

Sonny Clark wanted “all the Steinways”, Oscar Peterson wished he could “play the piano the way I want to”, while Miles Davis simply answered, “to be white”.

The person to elicit these extraordinary and intimate responses was Baroness Pannonica Rothschild de Koenigswarter, or Nica as she was known. Friend, landlady, muse and manager to some of the greatest jazz musicians of the twentieth century, Nica remains somewhat of a mythical figure.
Her name ghosts through the jazz canon.She dedicated her life to giving musicians a voice and helping to end both the fingerprinting of nightclub musicians and the controversial ‘New York Cabaret Card’ system, an obligatory performance permit, which could be revoked on the smallest infractions. And yet, hers was also a name once tainted by association with rumour and scandal.

I encountered Nica once in Philadelphia, outside of the long gone " Grendels Lair" club on South St in 1975.

I was outside talking to Wilbur Ware after a set, that he did with Barry Harris. The club turned over and everyone had to leave. Ware was also a Monk musician, and as I was talking to him he was speaking to Nica. She was amazingly cool and friendly, for sure she was the driver for the Barry Harris band from NYC. So we are passing Nica's flask around, talking. They head back in and she said, come on follow me. She just goes past the door guy, gets me a seat at the bar right aside of the band. A better seat than I had before! She buys me a scotch, and heads back to the corner to talk to Barry and Charles McPhearson. As I passed her on the way out, I said to her thank you so much. I wanted her to know how much I appreciated it, and she smiled and said " Your very welcome". What a wonderful asset to this world she was, and what she did for music.

This world needs more people like Baroness Pannonica Rothschild

de Koenigswarter.