A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

Starring:Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Buck Clayton, Art Blakey, Hank Jones (II), Art Farmer, Johnny Griffin, Milt Hinton, Chubby Jackson, Scoville Browne, Felix Maxwell, Paula Morris, Taft Jordan Jr., Everard Powell, Marian McPartland, Bud Freeman, Max Kaminsky, Eddie Locke, Gerry Mulligan
Director: Jean Bach
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
And what a day it was: nearly 60 jazz musicians, gathered on a Harlem street one morning in 1958 for what photographer Art Kane rightly, if immodestly, calls "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken" (incredibly, it was also Kane's first professional shoot). Like Ken Burns's Jazz, this 60-minute documentary, an Oscar nominee in 1995, is a mixed-media affair: still photographs and 8 millimeter color footage (shot by bassist Milt Hinton and his wife) of the day itself are combined with interviews, background music, and performance clips of some of the players involved (from legends like Lester Young, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk to lesser-knowns like Maxine Sullivan, Red Allen, and Vic Dickenson) to tell the story. There are anecdotes about 35-cent dinners, all-night jams, and film loaded upside down; about pianist Horace Silver's vegetarian diet and trumpeter Roy Eldridge's high notes; about old friends reuniting and what Hinton calls "just sheer happiness." Looking at the photo years later, Dizzy Gillespie sums it up simply: "There's a whole lotta people I like on there!"

Amazon.com

And what a day it was: nearly 60 jazz musicians, gathered on a Harlem street one morning in 1958 for what photographer Art Kane rightly, if immodestly, calls "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken" (incredibly, it was also Kane's first professional shoot). Like Ken Burns's Jazz, this 60-minute documentary, an Oscar nominee in 1995, is a mixed-media affair: still photographs and 8 millimeter color footage (shot by bassist Milt Hinton and his wife) of the day itself are combined with interviews, background music, and performance clips of some of the players involved (from legends like Lester Young, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk to lesser-knowns like Maxine Sullivan, Red Allen, and Vic Dickenson) to tell the story. There are anecdotes about 35-cent dinners, all-night jams, and film loaded upside down; about pianist Horace Silver's vegetarian diet and trumpeter Roy Eldridge's high notes; about old friends reuniting and what Hinton calls "just sheer happiness." Looking at the photo years later, Dizzy Gillespie sums it up simply: "There's a whole lotta people I like on there!"

And speaking of Diz, the DVD also includes "The Spitball Story" (produced, like the Great Day documentary, by Jean Bach), an entertaining if slight tale about the trumpeter's days with bandleader Cab Calloway. Seems Gillespie, a renowned practical joker, delighted in launching spitballs at his fellow musicians. Calloway wasn't amused--especially when one particular projectile landed onstage near him. Although Gillespie for once was not the culprit, the two had a nasty confrontation, resulting in Dizzy's firing from the band. It was, he recalls, "the best move I ever made in music." --Sam Graham

Description

A Great Day in Harlem (1994, 60 min.) - The story and sounds behind the most famous photo in the history of jazz. In August of 1958, in front of a Harlem brownstone, first-time photographer Art Kane assembled 57 of the greatest jazz stars of all time and snapped a picture that would live forever. Narrated by Quincy Jones, this Academy Award-nominated documentary includes interviews with nearly 30 jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Art Blakey, home movies, and rare performance footage. The Spitball Story (1997, 21 min.) - A short film about the firing of Dizzy Gillespie by Cab Calloway for one too many practical jokes.

Customer Reviews:

great day in harlem commented.......2006-10-27

even though it left out quite a few others,its was good to see the muscians who brought to the world, bop,hard bop,swing. cats who really played their heart out,not only to scratch out a bare living,but for the total enjoyment and love of playing great music.

A Great Teaching Tool in Harlem.......2004-12-02

I bought the VHS Tape years ago with the poster of the photograph and have used it to teach about Jazz in my music classes. I am purchasing the DVD for easier navigation for specific instruction. However, the best thing is using the internet to go to the photo at www.harlem.org. There the kids can click on any person in the photo and find all sorts of info about the artist, the instruments, the music, and CDs available. And thanks to Amazon.com, when you click on a CD or album, you can get to hear a sample of the music. The kids love it!

Beyond wonderful.......2004-08-31

For just about everyone, but specifically jazz lovers, this account of the memorable photograph in Harlem in the late 1950's and is really a necessity, and also a wonderful record of the great jazz musicians of the 40's and 50's. This is like visiting the famous who you'd have loved to have been your friends.

very good........2003-08-29

yeah both these are good but its really all about the photo. great to see some of milt hinton's cine footage from the day and other fotos too. the stories are all good from the musicians interviewed even if the photographer does come across a bit of a pratt sometimes. well worth it if you are a jazz fan or appreciate modern history.

Harlem, the number one Jazz empire!.......2002-12-05

This is a documentary about the golden age Jazz greats. These are the stories and sounds of the legends in the Jazz industry. The famous Picture of the great Jazz musicians and singers combined on the sidewalk of a street in Harlem, N.Y.. The kids that were sitting on the curb with Count Basie, wasn't supposed to be in the shot; but was used to add a realistic setting to the picture. Then there was the spitball story, told by Dizzy Gillespie himself. Dizzy was always shooting spitballs on the stage when they would be doing a show. He coaxed another band member into shooting them also, and Cab Calloway knew Dizzy had been shooting the spitballs and gave Dizzy plenty of warnings to stop. In one show, while Cab was on stage singing and dancing with some girls, a spitball landed on stage in front of Cab and the girls; right in the spot light. Mr. Calloway stopped the show and yelled at Dizzy, but it wasn't Dizzy that time; it was the other band member. When the other band member admitted to the spitball, Mr. Calloway still claimed it was Dizzy's fault, and fired him. Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Calloway got into a heated argument. The argument turned into a fight, and Dizzy pulled a switch blade on Mr. Cab Calloway; slicing him on the hand. Mr. Calloway, lunged at Dizzy and banged his leg against a large luggage trunk; forming a large bleeding wound on his leg. Mr. Gillespie said in his own words, "That was the best thing that had every happened to me" The fact that Mr. Cab Calloway fired him from the band, Mr. Dizzy Gillespie went on and formed his own band, and created his own success. This is an historial documentary that shouldn't be ignored. I recommend it.

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