SwingDJs

I found this photo/link on Lawrence's site - this maybe old news to some of you but I didn't see it posted here anywhere.

I thought this was very cool considering the Harlem threads lately. It's been fun to look at everyone especially since we have been discussing many of the musicians pictured here; it also reminded me of being there at HJDF.



For an interactive tour: A Great Day in Harlem

You know what I would like to see? A picture of the layout of the Savoy Ballroom. Is there such a thing? Despite the pictures and whatnot that I've seen, I can't visualize what it was like inside.

I know I have a better one somewhere, but here's an outside overview:

http://www.kokomo.ch/Swing/clubs.htm

The dance floor can be easily visualized in this recreation, and imagine the tables and bar on the other side:
http://www.savoyballroom.org/frameset/frameset.htm

Unrelated, but I love this shot:


-FF

I rented that video once, A Great Day in Harlem. It was pretty sweet, there were lots of little anecdotes told about some jazz greats. Gives you a bit of insight into the perosonality of many Harlem musicians.

djstarr wrote:I found this photo/link on Lawrence's site - this maybe old news to some of you but I didn't see it posted here anywhere.



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no such thing as Old news...I got to visit that spot a few years ago when I was in Harlem...

Lindy Bomb wrote:I rented that video once, A Great Day in Harlem. It was pretty sweet, there were lots of little anecdotes told about some jazz greats. Gives you a bit of insight into the perosonality of many Harlem musicians.

A few weeks ago at the George Eastman House here in Rochester, the director, Jean Bach, made a presentation of A Great Day in Harlem and its follow-up, The Spitball Story. The latter was about the famed incident which got Dizzy Gillespie fired from Cab Calloway's band. Both are very entertaining and highly recommended.

Jean Bach is a totally cool lady. Biggest female jazz fan that I've ever encountered. She was friends with tons of jazz musicians going back to the 30's (I think she is somewhere over 80 herself).

There is a DVD of both of these films out there, but she mentioned she was working on what would amount to a "special edition" DVD, which would include tons of interview footage not included in the original (which was filmed in the late 80's), plus perhaps new interview footage with more jazz greats.

Cool, thanks.

Mike wrote:A few weeks ago at the George Eastman House here in Rochester, the director, Jean Bach, made a presentation of A Great Day in Harlem and its follow-up, The Spitball Story. The latter was about the famed incident which got Dizzy Gillespie fired from Cab Calloway's band. Both are very entertaining and highly recommended.

I am so pissed that I missed this...

I have a DVD that has both of them on it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... d&n=507846

Andy Reid wrote:I have a DVD that has both of them on it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... d&n=507846

sweet, when Harlem.org first came out with this poster they had a contest on who could name the most musicians in the picture. I named alot of them and tied in like 20th place or something with around 100 other people...LOL

Andy Reid wrote:I have a DVD that has both of them on it:

Another dilemma over whether to get it or wait for the Special Edition... never thought I'd have this problem with a jazz film.

There's a cool the story about that photo also...There are several shots or takes of it...Willie "The Lion" Smith was supposed to be the photo but got tired from waiting around and sat on the staircase to the left and out of shot that was chosen...I've seen some of the alternate shots where he's in it...

There is a companion book to the movie/photo which gives more detail about the event and also an index of exactly who is who. It also has a photograph of the same stoop about 35 years later with the same people ... those who were still alive. There were maybe 10 people in the shot, and one of them was one of the little kids, 35 years later.

i saw the book recently. It also has a section called "trumpets in central park" about some photo of the trumpet giants.