A Great Day in Harlem
Encyclopedia
A Great Day in Harlem or Harlem 1958 is a 1958 black and white group portrait of 57 notable jazz
musician
s photograph
ed on a street in Harlem, New York City
. The photo has remained an important object in the study of the history of jazz.
Art Kane
, a freelance photographer working for Esquire
magazine, took the picture around 10 a.m. one day in the summer of 1958. The musicians had gathered on 126th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Harlem. Esquire published the photo in its January 1959 issue. Kane calls it "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken."
Jean Bach, a radio producer of New York, recounted the story behind it in her 1994 documentary film
, A Great Day in Harlem
. The film was nominated in 1995 for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature
.
The Jazz of the City Atlanta portrait
, by photographers Seve "Obasina" Adigun and Gregory Turner, captures on camera in color the next generation of jazz musicians. In April 2007, over 100 jazz musicians surrounded Mayor Shirley Franklin
in the Atlanta City Hall
Atrium for another historic image mirroring the original.
The photo was also a key object in Steven Spielberg
's film, The Terminal
. The film starred Tom Hanks
as Viktor Navorski, a character who comes to the United States in search of Benny Golson
's autograph, with which he can complete his deceased father's collection of autograph
s from the musicians pictured in the photo.
As of Oct. 21, 2011 only 4 of the musicians are still living. (See starred names in the list below.)
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
ed on a street in Harlem, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The photo has remained an important object in the study of the history of jazz.
Art Kane
Art Kane
Art Kane , born Arthur Kanofsky in New York City, was a fashion and music photographer active from the 1950s through early 1990s...
, a freelance photographer working for Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine, took the picture around 10 a.m. one day in the summer of 1958. The musicians had gathered on 126th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Harlem. Esquire published the photo in its January 1959 issue. Kane calls it "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken."
Jean Bach, a radio producer of New York, recounted the story behind it in her 1994 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, A Great Day in Harlem
A Great Day in Harlem (film)
A Great Day in Harlem is a 1994 documentary film directed by Jean Bach about the photograph of the same name. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....
. The film was nominated in 1995 for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
.
The Jazz of the City Atlanta portrait
Jazz of the City Atlanta portrait
The Jazz of the City Atlanta is an historic, color portrait of over 100 jazz musicians surrounding Mayor Shirley Franklin created in the Atlanta City Hall Atrium...
, by photographers Seve "Obasina" Adigun and Gregory Turner, captures on camera in color the next generation of jazz musicians. In April 2007, over 100 jazz musicians surrounded Mayor Shirley Franklin
Shirley Franklin
Shirley Clarke Franklin is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and served as mayor of Atlanta, Georgia from 2002 to 2010...
in the Atlanta City Hall
Atlanta City Hall
Since Atlanta was founded, there have been four official city halls of Atlanta.-Antebellum:After half a decade of makeshift meeting places for city business , in 1853 mayor of Atlanta John Mims purchased the four-acre "Peters's Reserve" from Richard Peters for $5,000...
Atrium for another historic image mirroring the original.
The photo was also a key object in Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's film, The Terminal
The Terminal
The Terminal is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is about a man trapped in a terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot...
. The film starred Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
as Viktor Navorski, a character who comes to the United States in search of Benny Golson
Benny Golson
Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.-Biography:While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and...
's autograph, with which he can complete his deceased father's collection of autograph
Autograph
An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...
s from the musicians pictured in the photo.
As of Oct. 21, 2011 only 4 of the musicians are still living. (See starred names in the list below.)
Musicians in the photograph
|
Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"... Milt Hinton Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:... Chubby Jackson Greig Stewart 'Chubby' Jackson was an American jazz double-bassist and band leader.Born in New York City, Jackson began at the age of seventeen as a clarinetist, but quickly changed to bass.... Hilton Jefferson Hilton Jefferson was an American jazz alto saxophonist born in Danbury, CT, perhaps best-known for leading the saxophone section from 1940-1949 in the Cab Calloway band... Osie Johnson James "Osie" Johnson was a jazz drummer.He first worked with Sabby Lewis and then, after service in the United States Navy freelanced for a time in Chicago... Hank Jones Henry "Hank" Jones was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award... Jo Jones Jo Jones was an American jazz drummer.Known as Papa Jo Jones in his later years, he was sometimes confused with another influential jazz drummer, Philly Joe Jones... Jimmy Jones (pianist) James Henry "Jimmy" Jones was an American jazz pianist and arranger.-Biography:... Taft Jordan Taft Jordan was an American jazz trumpeter, heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong.... Max Kaminsky (musician) Max Kaminsky was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader of his own orchestra .-Biography:Kaminsky was born in Brockton, Massachusetts... Gene Krupa Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:... Eddie Locke Eddie Locke was an American jazz drummer.Locke was associated with the Detroit jazz scene in the 1940s and 1950s, playing from 1948 to 1953 with drummer Oliver Jackson in a variety show called Bop & Locke... Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:... * Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music... Miff Mole Irving Milfred Mole, better known as Miff Mole was a jazz trombonist and band leader. He is generally considered as one of the greatest jazz trombonists and credited with creating "the first distinctive and influential solo jazz trombone style." His major recordings included "Slippin' Around",... Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"... Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also... |
Oscar Pettiford Oscar Pettiford was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer known particularly for his pioneering work in bebop.-Biography:... Rudy Powell Rudy Powell was an American jazz reed player.Powell learned piano and violin while young, and then switched to clarinet and saxophone. In the late 1920s he played with June Clark, Gene Rodgers's Revellers, and Cliff Jackson's Krazy Kats... Luckey Roberts Charles Luckeyeth Roberts, better known as Luckey Roberts was an American composer and stride pianist who worked in the jazz, ragtime, and blues styles.-Biography:... Sonny Rollins Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St... * Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr... Pee Wee Russell Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet.... Sahib Shihab Sahib Shihab was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:... Horace Silver Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer.... * Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist. He is known well for the song "If You're a Viper".-Biography:... Rex Stewart Rex Stewart was an American jazz cornetist best known for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra.... Maxine Sullivan Maxine Sullivan , born Marietta Williams, was an American blues and jazz singer.She was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and married jazz musician John Kirby in 1938 , and stride pianist Cliff Jackson in 1956... Joe Thomas (saxophonist) Joe Thomas was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Thomas played alto sax under Horace Henderson, but played tenor from the time he joined Stuff Smith's band onward. He played with Jimmie Lunceford's band from 1933 until Lunceford's death in 1947, where he soloed often and occasionally sang... Wilbur Ware Wilbur Ware was an American jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style.Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass. In the 1940s, he worked with Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge. In the 1950s, Ware played with Eddie Vinson, Art Blakey, and Buddy DeFranco... George Wettling George Wettling was an American jazz drummer.He was one of the young white Chicagoans who fell in love with jazz as a result of hearing King Oliver's band at the Lincoln Gardens in Chicago in the early 1920s... Ernie Wilkins Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. was a jazz arranger and writer who also played tenor saxophone. He might be best known for his work with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie... Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records... Lester Young Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums.... (*) denotes still living members |
External links
- http://www.a-great-day-in-harlem.com - about the documentary.
- "Jazz's Most Iconic Photo is Half a Century Old" by Alan Kurtz (Jazz.com)
- Review of A Great Day in Harlem
- http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/Orderpage.aspx?pi=0ALN0013010075&po=75&pc=77. THE JAZZ OF THE CITY ATLANTA 2007 portrait.