Nica's story is the most fascinating jazz story I've ever encountered and she never wrote a tune or played an instrument; she was even too busy living her story to write about it. Since all I had to go by were the slanderous rumors, I believed them up until now.
Clint Eastwood made some disparaging remarks about her beauty after she had gotten older, and I believe he was truly jealous; with all his fame and fortune, he was nobody in the jazz world compared to Nica.
She was super cool and hip without making any effort what so ever to be that way. I've met people like her, and I wish I could be that way. One such person gave me some sage advice, "Be true to thine self", he told me, in his naturally hip manner; and so he was.
Nica lived for the moment, and her life after she became "The Jazz Baroness" was one continues set. She told one of her nieces to meet her at a club: "How will I recognize the club"?
"Look for the car" was Nica's response. The niece instantly recognized the club, it was the the one with the badly parked Bentley in front, that had two winos lolling around on the leather seats. "They keep anyone from stealing the car", she was told after finding Nica. This was in a tiny basement club, where Nica was the only white person in the joint.
"Smoking a cigarette in a long black filter, her fur coat draped over the back of a spindly chair, Nica gestured to an empty seat, and picking up a teapot from the table, poured something into two chipped china cups. We toasted each other silently. I'd been expecting tea. Whisky bit into my throat; I choked and my eyes watered. Nica threw back her head and laughed."
"Thanks", I croaked. She put her finger to her lips, and nodding at the pianist on stage, said "Sssh, just listen to the music Hannah, just listen", as she swayed to the sounds.
After that soaks in, you can begin to percieve Nica; no wonder "Nica's Dream" is my favorite tune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDrxzKYdwsA
Enjoy the music.