And every time I see it I think Louis Armstrong is sitting on the curb in the lower right. No. That's Count Basie, holding his hat. Jonathan Kane, the son of Art Kane who took the photo, explains that one of the little boys seated on the curb kept running off with the Count's hat. Count Basie grew weary of chasing the kid and retrieving his hat, that he grew tired of the chase and needed a rest—now holding his hat more securely—and just sat down on the curb.
The historic photo is the subject of a piece by Hank Shteamer in last Thursday's NYT Arts section. A huge, front page reproduction of the photo graces the headline: 58 Jazz Luminaries Assembled for This Photo. One Remains. The front page jumps to a nicely laid out to a full, two page spread of photos and text.
The one remaining musician from the photo is Sonny Rollins, the saxophone player who is now 91. Anyone who has listened to jazz can easily name some of those who are not in the photo besides Louis Armstrong: Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evens, Duke Ellington. There are many more, but that doesn't diminish the historic quality of the photo.
I don't know how Art Kane got the assembled to show up that hot day in August 1958 at 10 o'clock in the morning. I read that one of the musicians got there and grumbled, "so this is the other 10 o'clock," musicians being more accustomed to late nights and early mornings before sunrise.
The absence of those you might expect to be in the photo could have been due to touring, being out-of-town, or just outright sleepiness. Mr. Shteamer tells us of a commemorative book celebrating the 60th-anniversary of the photo that might have a narrative about the assembly.
For myself, I started to be a fan of jazz in high school in the mid 1960s. I kept the radio on in the back of the family flower shop set to whatever channel that broadcast Del Shields and Billy Taylor.
My growing LP record collection did not include the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. I bought Dave Brubeck, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Oliver Nelson, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, Blue Mitchell... For singers I was a Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett fan.
When I got to be of drinking age in 1967 I went to The Village Gate and the Top of the Gate to see Ahmad Jamal and Bill Evans. For some reason I didn't explore 52nd Street, which at the time still retained some of its music night clubs. For me, recordings is how I absorbed the music.
I waited too long to see Stan Getz at Fat Tuesday's in what had been Joe King's German American Rathskeller in Scheffel Hall at 190 Third Avenue, down the block from the flower shop at 206 Third Avenue. Stan passed away, and so did Fat Tuesday's. I always regretted that.I did renew seeing Ahmad Jamal at The Iridium, I think in 2003; and Monty Alexander at Birdland in 2009. I'd like to get out more to Birdland and see some more artists beyond Tierney Sutton and Jane Monheit.
Time is fleeting.
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