“Genius of Harlem, Paris, and a Nazi Prison Camp,” Briggs was wrapped up in the world of the Lost Generation and jazz in the 1920s––and eventually swept up by events out of his control. Briggs played with Josephine Baker, Django Reinhardt and Sidney Bechet at nightclubs like the Moulin Rouge and Bricktop’s. Most remarkably, the book recounts the time Briggs spent in a Nazi prison camp during WWII, where he played Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and other pieces for the Nazi commanders until the liberation of Paris.
By Travis Atria
