On a Tuesday in August 1958, an impossibly stacked lineup of some of the world’s foremost jazz musicians gathered on a brownstone-lined block in Harlem to pose for a photograph, reports Patch.com.
Charles Mingus stood on the stoop. Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams and Dizzy Gillespie posed on the sidewalk. Count Basie sat on the curb, joined by some local kids.
The man behind the camera was Art Kane, a 33-year-old freelance photographer on assignment from Esquire magazine, where it was published a few months later.
All told, 57 musicians made it into the shot, which became legendary in the ensuing decades for the talent contained within it. Known as “A Great Day in Harlem,” or alternately, “Harlem 1958,” it even became the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary in 1994.
Now, on the 63rd anniversary of “Harlem 1958,” the quiet block of East 126th Street where it was taken will be co-named in honor of the image and the photographer.
After a ceremony at 2:45 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, the block between Fifth and Madison Avenues will become known as “Art Kane Harlem 1958 Place,” in honor of what organizers call “one of the most celebrated images in American history.”
