Regular Price $24.99

Starring: Jonah Jones (II),  Milt Hinton,  Dizzy Gillespie,  Quincy Jones,  Sonny Rollins, 
Directed By: Jean Bach, 
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Release Date: 1995-02-24
Studio: Image Entertainment
Format: Black & White,  Color,  DVD-Video,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

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.

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

Customer Reviews for A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

Ok take on the music
I recall first seeing the lauded and multiply awarded jazz documentary A Great Day In Harlem a dozen or so years ago on PBS, and while not a jazz fan nor aficionado, it was a short film (only an hour) that seemed to compress much of jazz history into a convenient package. Later on, when PBS historian Ken Burns turned his formulaic eye on the art form, with a monstrous nineteen hour documentary series, I felt he could have learned alot from this film. Yes, like too many documentaries, especially on subjects like jazz, there is far too much hagiography of mediocrities going on, but the key difference as to why this slight film is considered a `success', filmically, while Burns' far more professional and well-financed series is considered a `failure', is due to one reason: concision.
Thus, when I came upon a new two disk DVD version of the old documentary, I decided to revisit it, especially since it had a second disk that would probably have quite a bit more information than the actual film did. Where Burns was ponderous and pontificating in his simply named film Jazz, A Great Day In Harlem has a few of the then still living participants in first time photographer Art Kane's famous 1958 Esquire magazine photograph merely reminiscing about the day the shot was taken. Some, like drummer Art Blakey, seem to have gone senile, while others, like Marian McPartland, seem to be as sharp as ever. While certainly not insightful into the subject of jazz itself, the film does serve as a time capsule, and it does convey a more human side to the intellectually masturbated over art of jazz. Yes, there is far too much personal reminiscence and far too little insight into why the music is good and relevant- the lack of which may actually explain why jazz is in such steep decline in the country of its birth, but A Great Day In Harlem tackles almost all of its subjects- 58 in all, in just about a minute apiece, making it an MTV style documentary about pre-MTV music. What little narration is required is provided by Quincy Jones, and the film was directed by a New York City radio show host named Jean Bach- an aging white Upper West Side diva who seems to be the walking embodiment of the term dilettante. That said, she is an engaging old bird, especially in the bonus features, where she goes into great detail about how she went about conceiving of and making the film, which was co-produced and written with Matthew Seig and Susan Peehl.
The story of the film is not about jazz, but the photograph, and the music takes a backseat to the personalities, even as it rambles on in the background, spiced with bits from films and tv specials from that era. The tv clips are especially revealing, and watching them give more insight into the art form's mid-Twentieth Century appeal than hours of egghead philosophizing by Burns cronies could. However, folks from the photo, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Bud Freeman, Art Farmer, Marian McPartland, Art Blakey, Gerry Mulligan, and others go on and on, and the suspicion the film leves- that they really did spend hours rambling, is confirmed with humorous punctuation in the bonus features. There are also many other photographs taken that day by the participants- and used in the film, as well as color 8mm film taken by bassist Milt Hinton and his wife Mona, which illustrates just how difficult it was to get the often egoistic participants to group together as needed, especially with jazz superstars like Count Basie, Thelonius Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Mingus, Lester Young, and Gene Krupa all present. Also, many of the musicians spent far too long reminiscing, as the whole photo shoot took over an hour when it could have been done in five minutes.
There are funny little stories, such as why Count Basie is sitting on the sidewalk with some children, and why certain musicians are standing next to others, or turned away from the camera. But, the film itself is not particularly deep. What makes this new release on DVD a treat is a wealth of extra features on both disks. There is an insert with an essay, and on the first disk, with the film itself, are featurettes on photographer Art Kane, latter day hagiographers Bill Charlap and Kenny Washington- who seemingly drool over the photo, a segment on `Copycat Photos' which try to get great people from different arts and cities in similar poses, as well as the filmmakers reminiscing on the making of the documentary, with a wealth of humorous outtakes. But, the real treat is on disk two, where nearly three hours of comments on certain musicians can be accessed by scrolling over to the person in the photo and pressing the play button for their segment.
In sum, no one who is not acquainted with jazz will learn much of why to like the art form by watching A Great Day In Harlem, but they will still be entertained by the comments of those involved, and the manifest love and care, if not skill, that went into the photo and this documentary about it. That's more than most DVDs these days give you, right?
A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

A Great dfay in Harlem
This is history before your eyes.
All the great jazz artists of the day,this is a must get DVD for any jazz lover.
You won't be sorry....A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

Great Day in Harlem
I really enjoyed this 2 disc CD. I had the picture and knew about the background but these CDs completed the picture. If you are interested in Jazz, this is a must have. It also makes a great gift.A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

A great photo and now a grteat dvd
The hardest thing was certainly for Art Kane (the photographer) to manage schedules of all those musicians who appears on his famous picture, never the less the DVD is interesting as it allows those who were still alive at the time the movie was made to express themselves on that "Great Day in Harlem" and for that alone it is nice...A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story

Sweeeet!
Man is this fun to watch! All these classic old jazz players reminiscing about this ultimate jazz photo and the times surrounding it. Full of funny vignettes and some snippets of very fine music, it's a primo history lesson. Diz in particular is hilarious.
So many legends here; the extras are superb. A 90-minute movie is now a 6-hour treat! That's what Special Features should be: special.
A true must for any fan of jazz in the 50s, a golden era.
A Great Day in Harlem/The Spitball Story