A Great Day in Harlem, revisited
August 12, 1958 - a notable photograph was taken in Harlem.
Now known as “A Great Day in Harlem” or “Harlem 1958,” this black and white photo by freelance photographer Art Kane has become an iconic imprint on this moment in time, preserved for today. It was published in 1959 in Esquire Magazine.
66 years later, there are only two of the 57 adult jazz musicians from that photo still with us: Benny Golson and Sonny Rollins. In 2019, reporter Anthony Mason of CBS This Morning made a wonderful feature of the 60th anniversary of the publication - with saxophonist Benny Golson (who had thrown away his copy years ago - but they got him a replacement!)
We hear saxophonist Benny Golson from a 2009 release called New Time New-Tet that came out around the time of the release of the film The Terminal, a Tom Hanks movie jazz fans need to see if you haven't. And a lot of it is about this great day in Harlem photograph that Art Kane did in 1958. And there’s even a key moment in the film featuring Benny Golson. He wrote that tune Whisper Not. He was a key member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and we hear him joined by Al Jarreau 2009 release.
Let's turn to some stories around that time and date, in fact, encourage you to visit the website WZUM.org and go to the jazz notes page. Because for the program that you're listening to right now, it talks about the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival and a great day in Harlem. We also have links to the film, A Great Day in Harlem, a documentary by Jean Bach, and also an extended version of that documentary which shares about 3 hours of interviews, including with great Pittsburghers as a part of it, also featuring bassist and photographer Milt Hinton, plus Scoville Brown and Gerry Mulligan. Back. Let's hear, a little clip from that. The segment starting off with Art Kane himself, talking about the photograph of a great day in Harlem - just a taste of what you can find at the link for THE SCENE this week on WZUM - in celebration of A Great Day in Harlem.
We also share words from Art Kane from the 1994 Documentary “A Great Day in Harlem” by Jean Bach. Also featured, bassist (and photographer) Milt Hinton, plus musicians Gerry Mulligan and Scoville Browne, plus the wife Milt, Mona Hilton - she was recruited to run a movie camera to capture much of the day. Milt Hinton’s home movies from that day became the foundation of the award winning documentary.
Pittsburgh’s part in the photo include the presence of Art Blakey, Roy Eldridge, Maxine Sullivan and Mary Lou Williams.
The Scene - Thursdays at 6pm, Friday at Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 5pm on WZUM.
Orrin Evans
CBS This Morning, January 19, 2019
A deeper dive by filmmaker Jean Bach on the creation of the documentary about A Great Day in Harlem.
Part two of a deeper dive by filmmaker Jean Bach on the creation of the documentary about A Great Day in Harlem.