Jazz Photography and "Harlem 1958" by Art Kane
B&H Photography Podcast
Jill Waterman
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2018
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1958, Art Kane, already a successful art director looking to jump-start his photography career, pitched the idea of a "class photo" for Vogue magazine's annual jazz edition. In addition to individual photographs of jazz legends, he proposed a group portrait of musicians gathered on a stoop, in Harlem. For music and photography aficionados, the photo, now commonly referred to as "A Great Day in Harlem," is an iconic image, and on today's episode of the B&H Photography Podcast we speak with Jonathan Kane—Art Kane's son and an accomplished musician and photographer in his own right—about the creation and impact of this photograph. We also discuss the new book, Art Kane. Harlem 1958 - 60th Anniversary Edition, which provides context for the image's creation and never-before published outtakes.
In the second half of the show, we welcome contemporary jazz photographer Clara Pereira, who is one-half of the team behind the blog Jazztrail.net. Pereira speaks on the nuts and bolts of jazz photography, including tips on gear, technique, settings, and lighting. We find out that her simple approach is very effective, as she explains how to keep a low profile while shooting, the differences between working a club and a concert hall, and between performance and portrait work. Join us for this enjoyable episode and take a listen to our earlier episode on the image, "A Great Day in Hip-Hop," which was photographed at the same Harlem location as Art Kane's masterpiece.
Guests: Jonathan Kane and Clara Pereira
Photograph © Clara Pereira
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the BNH Photography Podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | For over 40 years, BNH has been the professional source for photography, video, audio, and |
| 0:08.9 | more. |
| 0:09.9 | For your favorite gear, news, and reviews, visit us at bnh.com or download the BNH app to |
| 0:15.4 | your iPhone or Android device. |
| 0:17.6 | Now here's your host, Alan White's. |
| 0:20.9 | Greetings and welcome to the BNH Photography Podcast. |
| 0:24.3 | Back in September 2018, we recorded a show celebrating the 20th anniversary of a photograph |
| 0:30.4 | titled A Great Day in Hip Hop. |
| 0:32.8 | The photograph, which was organized by Double XL Magazine, was taken by the legendary photographer |
| 0:38.3 | Gordon Parks and featured close to 200 of the world's premier hip hop artists. |
| 0:43.8 | The photograph parks took that day was itself a celebration of another group portrait photographer |
| 0:49.4 | art came took at that very same location 40 years earlier. |
| 0:55.0 | Kane's photograph, now commonly known as a Great Day in Harlem, featured 57 of the world's |
| 1:00.1 | best jazz musicians of the day and was taken for Esquire magazine. |
| 1:04.4 | The photograph has been both celebrated and imitated ever since. |
| 1:08.0 | It's the definition of an iconic photograph. |
| 1:11.2 | Jonathan Kane, art's son, was scheduled to be with us for the recording in September |
| 1:15.4 | but was unable to join us. |
| 1:17.2 | However, we really wanted to speak about this legendary photograph that his father took. |
| 1:21.5 | So we asked Jonathan to join us for this episode about jazz photography. |
| 1:25.9 | And in the second half of the show, we're going to be speaking with contemporary jazz |
... |
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