A Great Day in Harlem

The best documentary about jazz ever. If you want to know what jazz performers are like, you will learn more from this one hour film than all the hours of Ken Burns' documentary put together. It makes Burns' film insignificant by comparison. Jazz performers shine in this work because Jean Bach is such a skillful interviewer. You can tell the musicians all like her, and since they are always shown talking to the camera, not to her, it comes across as if they all like you, too, the viewer. The film makes you feel very privileged. I own this film and I watch it over and over and never get tired of it. Who could get tired of hanging out for an hour with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Bud Freeman, Art Farmer, etc. and listening to the excellent narration of Quicy Jones?

This film is a must not only for jazz fans, but for those who are interested in a history of American music. This film truly captures a moment in time. In the early 1950's all of the prominent jazz musicians in New York were asked to assemble in front of a Harlem brown-stone for their photograph to be taken. The photo would be used as the cover for an all jazz issue of Esquire magazine. The young photographer who was in charge of the shoot (this was his first assignment as a photographer)was soon overwhelmed at the amount of talent which assembled that morning. Among the luminaries: Count Basie, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, Gene Krupa, and countless others. All who turned out that day were legends in their own right. The day is recalled through a series of interviews with those participants still living. Some of the stories are humorous, some touching, but the warmth and emotion felt by the interviewees is evident throughout. All in all a wonderful film about a moment captured forever in time. It can be safely said that the moment this film and the photo captured, is a moment when the greatest musicians of the century were at the same place at the same time. An important and entertaining film.

This fun, informative documentary covers the taking of a classic photo in 1958 for Esquire, that had almost every great Jazz star of the era, from Dizzy Gillespie, to Count Basie to Thelonius Monk, etc etc.

While the film is too short (just under and hour) to go into any great detail, and maybe a little too much time is spent on various greats 25 years later saying how great everyone else was, there's a sweetness and infectious enthusiasm that director Bach (no spring chicken herself) brings to this collection of memories of a time and place.

If you have any interest in photography or jazz this is a must.

BTW - the two disc DVD has literally hours of interesting extras that balance the feature's short running time.

Jean Bach does the seemingly impossible with "A Great Day in Harlem. She makes a 40-year-old B&W photograph come alive.

Art Kane's first photo assignment for Esquire magazine in 1958 must have been his own personal Everest. Get 50+ jazz musicians in one place at one time, stand across the street, point and shoot. Sure, no problem. But the cats came in droves, some of them having not yet gone to bed after a gig the night before. Some were probably nursing hangovers. But Kane captured a photo that is a cult icon, a time capsule of the heyday of hard bop, with many seminal figures from an earlier day standing proudly beside them.

The late great bassist, Milt Hinton, who is one of the warmest and most charming people interviewed, was also a fine photographer. His wife captured much of the Great Day with a color 8mm movie camera, and it's a treat to see the ensemble milling about on the street and taking their places for the final picture.

Many of the people in this photo are not and never were household names. But the musicians Jean Bach tracked down to give their reminiscences are quick to give them their due. They recognize their skill and talent and recall the personalities of their lesser-known counterparts. Perhaps those just getting into jazz will be motivated to seek out CDs by Benny Golson, Roy Eldridge and others by virtue of the "props" given them by their old buddies and bandmates.

The Bonus Disc is worth watching, if only for the segment on "copycat" photos, and there have been many. A restaging of the original photo is quite poignant. But nothing on it is filler: the jazzmen really did warm up to Jean Bach if they didn't already know her, and they ended up talking about everything.

This documentary was as great an idea as the Art Kane photo that inspired it. Highly recommended.

A one hour documentary on how a famous picture of some 30 jazzmen in 1958 was prepared one morning in 125th Street and Lenox Avenue. Thirty-five years later, those that were still alive were interviewed reminiscing of how the event took place. Even the small kid sitting on the curb, now a grown adult, was interviewed. There is also footage of a small portable movie camera that one had at the time. Funny too listening on the stories of these jazz giants.