harlem.org and the royalty of jazz

Over at harlem.org is this wonderful photograph with an astounding collection of many of the great musicians of the 20th century. The site provides an in depth examination into the photograph, and in deed, jazz itself. As the site explains, Art Kane...

attributed his famous photograph to being young and naïve. In August 1958 he was hired by Esquire magazine to come up with a photo to open an article about jazz. He figured he would contact every major jazz musician in New York to show up on 126th street in Harlem at 10am to take a group portrait. Getting jazz musicians anywhere together at 10am seemed impossible, but to everyone's surprise 57 musicians showed up. It was Art Kane's first professional photograph.

For more on the photographer go to Art Kane: Pictures from a Visionary Photographer