VIFF Review: The Jazz Baroness

The Jazz Baroness
Granville 7 Theatre 5
Thursday, October 1 2009 6:00pm

This film is Hannah Rothschild's personal journey to learn about her great aunt Pannonica of whom her family rarely spoke. Hannah had only a brief relationship with Pannonica having only met her a few years before her death.

Pannonica was born into the English branch of the prominent Jewish Rothschild banking family. Named after a species of moth that her naturalist father collected, she led a sheltered life of privilege in palatial estates. Pannonica was brought up to become a wife and mother which were the only acceptable roles open to high society women in the early 20th century. But world events would test her strength and hint at new possibilities.

The wealth and privilege of the Rothschilds could not save unlucky European family members who were caught by the Nazi regime and perished in the concentration camps. Pannonica's husband was sent to fight in Africa. She only left Normandy for America just in time. Leaving her children in America, she enlisted as a private and aided the Allied war effort in Africa.

After the war the family settled in Mexico. But one day on a visit to New York her friend played Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight for her and she fell in love with his music. She stayed in NY and effectively left her family but would not meet Thelonious Monk until a concert in Paris where they were introduced by pianist Mary Lou Williams.

Pannonica became nursemaid, chauffeur, gopher, banker, and best friend to Monk and many of the bebop era jazz musicians in New York City. But mainstream society would not accept an independent white woman associating with disreputable black jazz musicians without a fight. Vicious rumors and speculation about Charlie Parker's death in her hotel suite are put to rest. The infamous incident when she takes the rap for drugs found in her car to protect Monk is recounted but it is never revealed who they actually belonged to.

The film includes extensive interviews with musicians, family, and colleagues including Thelonious Monk Jr, Quincy Jones, Archie Shepp, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes, Clint Eastwood, and Pannonica's siblings. Naturally, the soundtrack is a greatest hits package of Thelonious Monk's as well as other musicians compositions dedicated to Pannonica.

Hannah admires her great aunt's reinvention of herself but wonders about the family left behind. Her doubts are assuaged with the discovery of Pannonica's loving letters to her family in Mary Lou Williams' archive.

Alongside Clint Eastwood's Straight, No Chaser, this movie documents a remarkable relationship between music lover and music creator. Monk's fragile genius might not have flourished without the unwavering support of the Jazz Baroness.