Who Am I? January 2023
I was a scion of an internationally famous banking family who was born in London shortly before the Guns of August roared. My dad, Charles, was an etymologist and a banker. I had a fairytale upbringing on country estates with private tutors and governesses. I went to finishing school in Paris. My mom was a close friend of Queen Mary and when I had my debut in London, the great Winston Churchill attended.
I took up flying and while piloting my own plane at a French airfield I met my husband Jules, a mining engineer, who was also a French diplomat. We were to have 5 children together. When war broke out Jules joined the Free French in Africa. I too joined the Free French as a private. I ferried medical supplies to the Congo, worked as a decoder, and then as an ambulance driver with 1st Free French Division in Egypt, N. Africa, and Italy. After the war I was decorated as a lieutenant.
I became very interested, even gobsmacked, with jazz after hearing a recording of ‘Round Midnight and decided I must somehow get into that prolific N.Y. jazz scene. Those be-bop sax instrumentals with their fast tempos, advanced harmonies and chord substitutions as well as that improvisational piano style captivated me. I left my diplomat husband and kids in Mexico City and took off for Harlem! I’m quoted as saying that I followed my dream of “embracing the culture of bop and jazz musicians and the rebellion of it.” I spent the last 3 decades of my life pursuing that endeavor.
I became a muse and a friend to the likes of “Bird,” Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and many others. At times I bought them groceries, paid their rent, bought cars for them, paid their dental bills(having good chops was essential to players of wind instruments), redeemed their pawned instruments or drove them to their gigs in my Silver Cloud Rolls Royce or Bentley. Those musicians returned my love and support for them by dedicating over 20 compositions to me. In the early to mid-1960’s I interviewed over 300 musicians about their 3 wishes and then had it published.
Yes, I do have N.J. bona fides. I purchased a 2-story home in Weehawken where for years I cared for a particularly well-renowned improvisational pianist after he stopped performing and became reclusive. I think you might know me by now. That’s me in the first picture on the far right in the second row of im- ages below sitting alongside my other pampered siblings. That image on my right was my home in Weehawken.
(1a)Who Am I? (1b)Can you identify my other 3 siblings, left to right, in the photo below? (1c)What nickname was given me after I nurtured my interest in jazz? (2a)What was the license plate on my luxury car? (2b)Why was my home in Weehawken called “Catville?” (2c)”Bird,” the well-regarded alto saxophonist, expired in my hotel suite. He is pictured in the first row on the left below. What was his actual name? (2d)To the right of “Bird’s” photo below is “Monk”, “the pianist I cared for in Weehawken. What was his actual name? (3a)Where did I meet Monk in person for the first time? (3b)There were over 20 jazz compositions dedicated in tribute to me. Name just 2 of them. (3c)What was the name of that book of interviews of jazz performers that I had published? (4a)What was my preferred brand of Scotch Whiskey? (4b)What was my address in Weehawken? (5)How did the composition, ‘Round Midnight,’ figure in the disposal of my remains?
