''A Great Day in Harlem'' or ''Harlem 1958'' is a black-and-white photograph of 57

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musicians in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, New York, taken by freelance photographer

Art Kane Art Kane (born Arthur Kanofsky; April 9, 1925 – February 3, 1995) was an American fashion and music photographer active from the 1950s through the early 1990s. He created many portraits of contemporary musicians, including Bob Dylan, Jefferson A ...

for '' Esquire'' magazine on August 12, 1958. The musicians gathered at 17 East 126th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenue. ''Esquire'' published the photo in its January 1959 issue.

Musicians in the photograph

Red Allen Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armst ...

Buster Bailey William C. "Buster" Bailey (July 19, 1902 – April 12, 1967) was an American jazz clarinetist. Career history Early career Buster Bailey was taught clarinet by classical teacher Franz Schoepp, who also taught Benny Goodman. Bailey gained his s ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Emmett Berry Emmett Berry (July 23, 1915 – June 22, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter. Berry was born in Macon, Georgia, United States. He began to study classical trumpet in Georgia, but by 18 had switched to jazz and moved to New York City. He bec ...

* Art Blakey * Lawrence Brown * Scoville Browne *

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...

* Bill Crump *

Vic Dickenson Victor Dickenson (August 6, 1906 – November 16, 1984) was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines. Life and car ...

Roy Eldridge David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from ...

* Art Farmer *

Bud Freeman Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet. Biography In 1922, Freeman and some friends from high sc ...

* Dizzy Gillespie * Tyree Glenn * Benny Golson * Sonny Greer *

Johnny Griffin John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...

Gigi Gryce Gigi Gryce (born George General Grice Jr.; November 28, 1925 – March 14, 1983), later Basheer Qusim, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator. While his performing career was relatively short, ...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

J.C. Heard James Charles Heard (August 10, 1917 – September 27, 1988) was an American swing, bop, and blues drummer. Biography Heard was born in Dayton, Ohio and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. As a young child, he performed as a tap dancer in amate ...

* Jay C. Higginbotham *

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

Chubby Jackson Greig Stewart "Chubby" Jackson (October 25, 1918 – October 1, 2003) was an American jazz double-bassist and band leader. Biography Born in New York City, Jackson began at the age of seventeen as a clarinetist, but quickly changed to bass in ...

* Hilton Jefferson *

Osie Johnson James "Osie" Johnson (January 11, 1923, in Washington, D.C. – February 10, 1966, in New York City) was a jazz drummer, arranger and singer. Johnson studied at Armstrong Highschool where he was classmates with Leo Parker and Frank Wess. He firs ...

* Hank Jones * Jo Jones * Jimmy Jones * Taft Jordan * Max Kaminsky *

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...

Eddie Locke Eddie Locke (August 2, 1930 – September 7, 2009) was an American jazz drummer. Eddie Locke was a part of the fertile and vibrant Detroit jazz scene during the 1940s and 1950s, which brought forth many great musicians including the Jones bro ...

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and wri ...

* Charles Mingus * Miff Mole *

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...

Oscar Pettiford Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom. Biography Pettiford was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United ...

* Rudy Powell *

Luckey Roberts Charles Luckyth Roberts (August 7, 1887 – February 5, 1968), better known as Luckey Roberts, was an American composer and stride pianist who worked in the jazz, ragtime, and blues styles. Biography Luckey Roberts was born in Philadelphia, ...

* Sonny Rollins *

Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901 – June 8, 1972) was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948. Rushing was known as " Mr. Five by ...

Pee Wee Russell Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969), was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and sp ...

Sahib Shihab Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, ...

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

Zutty Singleton Arthur James "Zutty" Singleton (May 14, 1898 – July 14, 1975) was an American jazz drummer. Career Singleton was born in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in New Orleans. According to his ''Jazz Profiles'' biography, his unusual ...

Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...

Maxine Sullivan Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States, was an American jazz vocalist and performer. As a vocalist, Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just b ...

* Joe Thomas *

Wilbur Ware Wilbur Bernard Ware (September 8, 1923 – September 9, 1979) was an American jazz double bassist.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 674. Oxford University Press He was a regular bassist for t ...

* Dickie Wells * George Wettling *

Ernie Wilkins Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. (July 20, 1922 – June 5, 1999) was an American jazz saxophonist, conductor and arranger who spent several years with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie. He was musical direc ...

Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, an ...

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...

Children in the picture

, having grown tired of standing, sat down on the curb, and gradually a dozen children followed. Most of the children were neighborhood residents, although the second child from the right, Taft Jordan, Jr., had accompanied his father, Taft Jordan, to the photo session. The photography crew was already having trouble directing the adults, and the presence of the children added to the chaos: one of the children appearing in the window kept yelling at a sibling on the curb; another kept playing with Basie's hat; Taft Jordan, Jr. had been scuffling with the older child seated to his left. Ultimately, Art Kane realized that any further attempt to organize the proceedings would be futile, and he decided to incorporate the subjects' actions.

Musicians in other photographs

Willie "The Lion" Smith William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist. Early life William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen ...

was sitting out of shot at the time the main picture used by ''Esquire'' was taken.

Ronnie Free Ronnie Free (born Ronald Guy Free on January 15, 1936, in Charleston, South Carolina) is an American jazz drummer. His recording credits date back to the 1950s and he has collaborated with many notable jazz musicians including pianists Mose Alli ...

Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

and

Charlie Rouse Charlie Rouse (April 6, 1924 – November 30, 1988) was an American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist. His career is marked by his collaboration with Thelonious Monk, which lasted for more than ten years. Biography Rouse was born in Was ...

turned up too late for the ''Esquire'' picture; Dizzy Gillespie took a photograph of them with

and

Film

Jean Bach, a radio producer of New York, recounted the story behind the photograph in her 1994 documentary film, '' A Great Day in Harlem''. The film was nominated in 1995 for an

Academy Award for Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to '' Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. They have since been best ...

. Bach described how, upon the film's release, a number of similar photographs employed the "A Great Day in..." theme. Hugh Hefner assembled Hollywood-area musicians for "A Great Day in Hollywood" in conjunction with a sneak preview of ''A Great Day in Harlem''. Soon after, "A Great Day in Philadelphia" included musicians such as

Jimmy Heath James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath. Biography Heath w ...

, Benny Golson and

Ray Bryant Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant (December 24, 1931 – June 2, 2011) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 1931. His mother was an ordained minister who had tau ...

. During the filming of '' Kansas City'' (1996), musicians including

Jay McShann James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...

posed for "A Great Day in Kansas City". A multi-page supplement in ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'' featured "A Great Day in Jersey", while a Dutch photograph was titled "A Great Day in Haarlem". In 1998, "Great Day in St Paul" was taken by Byron Nelson. The trend spread to other styles of music, with

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

blues musicians posing for "A Great Day in Houston". "A Great Day in Hip Hop" was followed by XXL's "The Greatest Day in Hip Hop". An

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

radio station gathered musicians for "A Great Day in Doo-Wop". A New York cellist, inspired by both the original photograph and the film, assembled chamber musicians for "A Great Day in New York". ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' ran "A Great Day in Spanish Harlem". The photograph was a key plot point in Steven Spielberg's 2004 film ''

The Terminal ''The Terminal'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stanley Tucci. The film is about an Eastern European man who is stuck in New York's John F. Kennedy ...

''. The film starred

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

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 An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...

s from the musicians pictured in the photo. Golson himself made a cameo in the film.

Homages

* 1998: "A Great Day in Hip-Hop" — for this photograph by

Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particula ...

, commissioned by '' XXL'' magazine, 177 hip-hop artists gathered on the stoop of number 17 as well as those of the buildings on either side. * 2004: "A Great Day in London" — in an initiative inspired by Art Kane's photograph, 50 writers of Caribbean, Asian and African descent making a significant contribution to contemporary British literature gathered to be photographed on the steps of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London. * 2007: "A Great Day on Eldridge St." - inspired by Kane's photograph,

Yale Strom Yale Strom is an American violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, photographer and playwright. Strom is a pioneer among klezmer (musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe) revivalists in conducting extensive field research in Cent ...

corralled a score of leading klezmer musicians who gathered on the steps of the Eldridge St. Synagogue to commemorate the 30 years of the

klezmer revival Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

. * 2008: "A Great Day in Paris" — more than 50 musicians from the US who were then residing in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France, took part in a historic photo session. The project was initiated by

Ricky Ford Ricky Ford (born March 4, 1954) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Ford was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States,) and studied at the New England Conservatory. Ricky Ford AllMusic In 1974, he recorded with Gunther Schulle ...

, who has said: "2008 was the 50th anniversary of the photo "A Great Day in Harlem” that Art Kane had taken in 1958 of all those jazz musicians in Harlem. I thought it would be a good idea to do the same thing with the American jazz musicians that lived in France. It took a year to prepare. Musicians from all over France came. Philippe Lévy-Stab took a group photo on the steps of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

and Michka Saäl started to work on a documentary film of those musicians." * 2008: "A Great Day in Hoxton" — a photograph by Peter Williams, commissioned by '' Straight No Chaser'' magazine and featuring prominent music business faces such as

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brow ...

and

James Lavelle James Lavelle (born 22 February 1974) is an English electronic musician, record label owner and curator. He founded the Mo'Wax record label in 1992, and has been the only constant member of UNKLE. He directed the 2014 edition of the Meltdow ...

alongside designers, fashion professionals, writers, dancers and fellow photographers. * 2013: "Een Grootse Dag in Kootwijk" - in the spirit of XXL's picture "A Great Day in Hiphop", Ghamte Schmidt and Andreas van de Laar gathered the Dutch Hiphopscene at the monumental Radio Kootwijk for a group portrait. * 2016: "A Great Day in Hackney" — in the spirit of Art Kane's photograph, British jazz musicians assembled to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Premises Studios in Hackney. * 2018: "A Great Day in Hollywood" — 47 black writers, showrunners, actors, and producers from more than 20

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

original shows, films and documentaries came together to create "A Great Day in Hollywood". Taken to promote Netflix's Strong Black Lead initiative, Netflix also released a minute long video directed by Lacey Duke and narrated by

Caleb McLaughlin Caleb Reginald McLaughlin (born October 13, 2001) is an American actor. He gained recognition for playing Lucas Sinclair in the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present). McLaughlin began his career on the Broadway stage as Young Simba ...

( Stranger Things).

References

External links

* Sarah Goodyear
"Stoop Summit — How a Harlem brownstone was immortalized when the living legends of jazz assembled there for an iconic photograph"
, '' New York Daily News'', 12 August 2016 (including interactive photo leading to performance clips by each musician). Retrieved August 29, 2016. *
"Jazz's Most Iconic Photo is Half a Century Old"
by Alan Kurtz
Jazz.com

(

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, September 25, 2018)
An interactive version of ''A Great Day in Harlem'' showing the musicians' names
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Day in Harlem, A Jazz publications 1958 works 1958 in art 1958 in New York City Black-and-white photographs Works originally published in Esquire (magazine) Photographs of the United States Harlem 1950s photographs