Just saw your film in Washington, DC tonight. So beautiful... Thank you.
Reuben Jackson
'I think you did a brilliant job. The similarities you point out between Nica and Monk, their connection through mental illness, social justice and creativity, how one can see that by saving Monk she was saving herself., nobody has previously made these connections.
Perhaps you stepped away a bit prematurely from your own connections to the Nica's story. I understand you were walking a fine line, and the fact that you had no real experience with jazz prior to making the film is testimony to your skill as a film maker and story teller.'
Ben Sidran
'a very, very fine job.
You took on the challenge, stepped right up, and smack one over the center field fence, a whom run.'
Stanley Crouch
'I was riveted and think that it is one of the most important documents,beautifully constructed and filmed about one of the most influential musicians in the history of Jazz and his equally fascinating companion.Nothing short of a masterpiece.'
Georgie Fame
"The film's utterly compelling in its examination of a profoundly unconventional love story, and it gains hugely from the interplay with the director's own journey of discovery with her great aunt. There are revolutions here: The love between a refugee from the old world's grandest banking dynasty and a black American genius who forever changed the sound of jazz was always bound to break the rules and the rhythms of the age. The film is cut like be-bop, and gives the same sense of wonder, and of hearing familiar notes as if for the first time. Of course it has one of the great soundtracks, but the brilliance of the film-making is that the greatest C20th jazz standards are enriched with context and intimate history. It's the most beguiling music film since Eastwood's Straight No Chaser."
Peter Florence, Directer Hay Festival
“Fabulous brilliant film; I loved it”
Hanif Kureishi, Author
The jazz baroness and the bebop king
"Here, then, is the answer for those wondering why the discography of postwar jazz is studded with a single exotic name, in a catalogue of compositions that includes not just Monk's own Pannonica but, from other pens, Nica's Dream, Nica's Tempo, Nica Steps Out, Blues for Nica and a dozen others. For a generation of jazz musicians, it was a way of repaying their most unlikely patron."
Richard Williams - The Guardian, Monday 22 December 2008
Please click here for the article in full
“Utterly brilliant”Stephen Frears, Director
“It was a beautiful contemplation of two fascinating lives. I really liked the way you put yourself into it – a lovely, touching dialogue between you and your great aunt – putting us in thrall to her great love and advocacy of genius. I have always been a fan of Thelonious Monk’s music, so it was great to be given such new insights.”
Lizzie Francke UK Film Council
“The film was fascinating and moving and had many enlightening undercurrents about the history of the 20th Century that took it way beyond the story of Thelonius and Pannonica. A very good piece of work indeed.”
Henry Porter- Observer
“Lovely”
Baroness Amos, European Representative of the African Union, Leader of the House of Lords
“A crash course in jazz and an important turning point in history and artistry and an insight into the great family mystery”
Mel Agasse, author
“ I love the way you structured the narrative, adding on layers as you proceeded, and weaving your quest throughout. You told her story with unflinching candor but great sensitivity. I was enthralled from the opening frames, and I also loved the music (soundtrack, please....).”
Sally Bedell-Smith, Vanity Fair
