August '58: Great Day in Harlem

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

In the early 1960s, I grew up in New York's Washington Heights with photographer Art Kane's son Jonathan. I was pretty young then, but I still recall Jonathan's dad as a hip, relaxed guy in a photographer's vest, longish hair and large glasses. [Photo of Art Kane by Steven A. Heller]

Art Kane, of course, took the famous "A Great Day in Harlem"photo for Esquire magazine. In August 1958, he called as many jazz musicians as he could and asked them to show up on 126th Street between Park and Fifth Avenues. Fifty-seven musicians in all appeared on August 12 and were assembled on the stairs of a brownstone. Kane took the photo from across the street at around 10 a.m. As you probably know, all of this is beautifully told in the documentary, A Great Day in Harlem, produced by Jean Bach.

Looking at the "Great Day" photo today, one can't help but wonder what might have happened had a producer been summoned and a rehearsal hall rented nearby with recording equipment. Art Kane died in 1995.

At any rate, here's Art Kane's still-remarkable photo followed by an index and a list of all of the musicians photographed. To enlarge, just click once on the images:

And here's the index:

1. Hilton Jefferson
2. Benny Golson
3. Art Farmer
4. Wilbur Ware
5. Art Blakey
6. Chubby Jackson
7. Johnny Griffin
8. Dickie Wells
9. Buck Clayton
10. Taft Jordan
11. Zutty Singleton
12. Red Allen
13. Tyree Glenn
14. Miff Mole
15. Sonny Greer
16. Jay C. Higginbotham
17. Jimmy Jones
18. Charles Mingus
19. Jo Jones
20. Gene Krupa
21. Max Kaminsky
22. George Wettling
23. Bud Freeman
24. Pee Wee Russell
25. Ernie Wilkins
26. Buster Bailey
27. Osie Johnson
28. Gigi Gryce
29. Hank Jones
30. Eddie Locke
31. Horace Silver
32. Luckey Roberts
33. Maxine Sullivan
34. Jimmy Rushing
35. Joe Thomas
36. Scoville Browne
37. Stuff Smith
38. Bill Crump
39. Coleman Hawkins
40. Rudy Powell
41. Oscar Pettiford
42. Sahib Shihab
43. Marian McPartland
44. Sonny Rollins
45. Lawrence Brown
46. Mary Lou Williams
47. Emmett Berry
48. Thelonious Monk
49. Vic Dickenson
50. Milt Hinton
51. Lester Young
52. Rex Stewart
53. J.C. Heard
54. Gerry Mulligan
55. Roy Eldridge
56. Dizzy Gillespie
57. Count Basie

Used with permission by Marc Myers