Salute to A Great Day in Harlem

Included in the photo are George Russell, Dave Brubeck, Nat Hentoff, Louie Bellson, David Baker, Percy Heath, Billy Taylor, Chico Hamilton, Jim Hall, James Moody, Randy Weston, Ron Carter, Jackie McLean, Gerald Wilson, Jimmy Heath, Hank Jones, Horace Silver, O'Day, Benny Golson, Frank Foster, Cecil Taylor, Roy Haynes, Clark Terry, and NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, standing at right. O'Day, whose sassy renditions of “Honeysuckle Rose," “Sweet Georgia Brown" and other song standards that made her one of the most respected jazz vocalists of the 1940s and '50s, Ms O'Day died, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006. She was 87. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

SINCE its creation in 1958 “A Great Day in Harlem" has become an icon of jazz photography. It is also recognized, in the broader context of American photography, as a major work. Through appearances on posters, postcards, in books and magazines it is celebrated worldwide.

Originally commissioned by Esquire magazine, the underlying concept was simple: to create a group portrait of living legendary jazz musicians on a Harlem street. However the photograph's compositional brilliance, its historic importance, no less the complex logistics required to organize the shoot, made Art Kane's achievement a notable event in the history of photography

Jazz musicians clock wise 'Just 'round Midnight' from the top, in a lazy figure 8:
Hilton Jefferson, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Wilbur Ware, Art Blakey, Chubby Jackson, Johnny Griffin, Dickie Wells, Buck Clayton, Taft Jordan, Zutty Singleton, Red Allen, Tyree Glenn, Miff Molo, Sonny Greer, Jay C. Higginbotham, Jimmy Jones, Charles Mingus.

Mid landing left to right:
Jo Jones, Gene Krupa, Max Kaminsky, George Wettling, Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, Ernie Wilkins, Buster Bailey, Osie Johnson.

Front row standing left to right:
Gigi Gryce, Hank Jones, Eddie Locke, Horace Silver, Luckey Roberts, Maxine Sullivan, Jimmy Rushing, Joe Thomas, Scoville Browne, Stuff Smith, Bill Crump, Coleman Hawkins, Rudy Powell, Oscar Pettiford, Sahib Shihab, Marian McPartland, Sonny Rollins, Lawrence Brown, Mary Lou Williams, Emmett Berry, Thelonius Monk, Vic Dickenson, Milt Hinton, Lester Young, Rex Stewart, J.C. Heard, Gerry Mulligan, Roy Eldgridge, Dizzy Gillespie and seated on the curb Count Basie.
Photo by Art Kane (1958)