Stories and Jazz: Pannonica de Koenigswarter

About this event

Set in the atmosphere of a New York jazz club, this evening weaves together live jazz with conversational storytelling. A five-piece band – piano, trumpet, saxophone, bass and drums – finds the sweet spot between swing and bebop, reviving the sound of the era when Pannonica de Koenigswarter became a crucial patron to musicians like Thelonious Monk. Interspersed with the music, three actors play a club owner and two friends who meet for a drink and end up discussing the remarkable life of “Nica,” the rebellious Rothschild heiress who left behind a gilded existence to champion jazz. The result is less a dry biography and more a relaxed night out that lets the audience soak up the sounds and stories of a pivotal chapter in jazz history. The performance runs about two hours with an intermission, and all proceeds go to the Zonta International project to end child marriage.