A Great Day in Harlem (1994)

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean Bach

Writers:

Jean Bach, Susan Peehl

Stars:

Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton, Marian McPartland

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.

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Plot Keywords:

photograph | jazz | esquire magazine | f rated | manhattan new york city | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Beat Thief Productions Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

ア・グレイト・デイ・イン・ハーレム 〜57人のジャズミュージシャンの肖像〜

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,078, 20 February 1995

Gross USA:

$527,034

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$527,034

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 67th Annual Academy Awards (1995)

User Reviews

An utterly charming documentary

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.