A Great Day in Harlem (1994)

Director:

Jean Bach

Writers:

Jean Bach
Susan Peehl
(more)

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot:

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958...

Plot Keywords:

Photograph | Jazz | Esquire Magazine | Voice Over Narration | Harlem Manhattan New York City

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Quincy Jones	...	Himself / Narrator
Dizzy Gillespie	...	Himself
Sonny Rollins	...	Himself
Buck Clayton	...	Himself
Art Blakey	...	Himself
Hank Jones	...	Himself
Art Farmer	...	Himself
Johnny Griffin	...	Himself
Milt Hinton	...	Himself
Chubby Jackson	...	Himself
Scoville Browne	...	Himself
Felix Maxwell	...	Himself
Paula Morris	...	Herself
Taft Jordan Jr.	...	Himself
Everard Powell	...	Himself
Marian McPartland	...	Herself
Bud Freeman	...	Himself
Max Kaminsky	...	Himself
Eddie Locke	...	Himself
Gerry Mulligan	...	Himself
Benny Golson	...	Himself
Ernie Wilkins	...	Himself
Elaine Lorillard	...	Herself
Nat Hentoff	...	Himself
Mona Hinton	...	Herself
Robert Altschuler	...	Himself
Mike Lipskin	...	Himself
Steve Frankfurt	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Horace Silver	...	Himself
Henry 'Red' Allen	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Count Basie	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Robert Benton	...	Himself (uncredited)
Vic Dickenson	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Roy Eldridge	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Sonny Greer	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Coleman Hawkins	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jo Jones	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Gene Krupa	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Charles Mingus	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Thelonious Monk	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jimmy Rushing	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Pee Wee Russell	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Zutty Singleton	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Stuffy Smith	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Willie 'The Lion' Smith	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rex Stewart	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Maxine Sullivan	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lester Young	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Bach

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean Bach
Susan Peehl
Matthew Seig

Produced by
Stuart Samuels	....	associate producer
Matthew Seig	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Steve Petropoulos

Film Editing by
Susan Peehl

Sound Department
Judy Benjamin	....	sound recordist
Chris Burke	....	sound effects
Neal Gettinger	....	sound recordist (as Neil Gettinger)
Steven Hertzog	....	sound recordist
Roy B. Yokelson	....	post-production sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Del Hall	....	additional cinematographer
Ralph Pitre	....	animation camera operator

Animation Department
Michael Bianchi	....	animator: title animation

Editorial Department
Phil Fallo	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Rick Eisenstein	....	music clearances
Johnny Mandel	....	music consultant

Other crew
Mark Cantor	....	archival consultant
Andreas Combuchen	....	title designer
Milt Hinton	....	source: original 8 mm film
Mona Hinton	....	source: original 8 mm film

Production Companies

• Flo-Bert Ltd.
• Jean Bach
• New York Foundation for the Arts

Distributors

• ABC Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Castle Hill Productions (1994) (USA)

Other Companies

• Antland Productions  audio post-production
• Chertok Associates Inc.  performance footage
• Diamond Time  music clearances
• Frank Driggs Archive  additional photographs
• Frankfurt Balkind  titles
• J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors  performance footage
• MCA Records  master recordings courtesy of
• National Video Industries  video post-production
• Photo Fest  additional photographs
• PolyGram Special Markets  master recordings courtesy of
• Rutgers University  additional photographs
• Sony Music Licensing  master recordings courtesy of
• Sony Music Special Products  master recordings courtesy of
• The Jane and Lloyd Pettit Foundation  support from

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Flo-Bert Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Terminal (2004)

Best documentary about jazz ever

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?