Caldecott Medal Contender: Jazz Day

by Sam Juliano

An iconic photograph titled “Harlem 1958” is the inspiration for a vigorous, high-octane picture book, Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph, by Roxane Orgill, with illustrations by Francis Vallejo.  In an engaging introduction Orgill explains how a graphic designer and jazz aficionado Art Kane – who worked at Esquire Magazine – successfully sorted out against all reasonable odds the negotiation of the shot on a cordoned off 126th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Manhattan on Tuesday, August 12th.  Esquire’s concerted effort in notifying musician’s unions and making contact with anyone connected to jazz players helped make this dream photograph materialize when attendance exceeded all reasonable expectations.  According to Orgill, Kane borrowed two cameras, one a Contrax 35 millimeter.  The shoot ran to almost five hours, as neighborhood  teenagers engaged in harassing mischief.  The author also reports that not all of the participants were or became famous, and that Jazz legend Duke Ellington was not on board.  Orgill’s detailed delineation of the facts surrounding this remarkable effort are wholly fascinating and they served to both broadly supplement the spirit  imparted in her own poetry -and the astounding art by Vallejo, whose first picture book this is – and but to serve as a singular inspiration for readers to embark on a listening journey of America’s most emblematic musical form.  As a treat for Jazz Day investigators, the full fold out of one of the most famous photos in American culture is showcased in all its pristine glory before a fantastic wealth of biographical supplements that include capsules of some of the most famous artists who appear before the camera.

Much of the poetry captures the nuances of setting, clothes, mannerisms and modes of transportation in a remarkably well documented journey where she molds situations and some of the jazz greats into a book that takes quick narrative shape from the opening pages and develops into a cohesive investigation into that famous day by way of those who are forever ensconced in its history.  First up the author imagines Kane’s psychological state on the morning of the shoot.  He dreads the possibility of only a few actually showing up or if rain or a sweltering summer day will work to foil his hopes.  In the case of the latter intrusion a cold beer will surely be more appealing than standing in the sun.  But soon enough things get rosier when Lester Young with “dangling cigarette” and “funny squashed hat” is noticed in a group emerging from the train station, and he is followed by Milt Hilton and a “guy in a striped tie.”  Then Kane realizes his crazy idea is beginning to take shape.  The first of Vallejo’s stunning acrylic and pastel tapestries -an overhead of the apartment block and the interconnecting brownstones- is done in an arid glaze giving fair warning to art lovers of the many pictorial treats that lie ahead.  In “Some Kind of Formation”  Kane is depicted in blue shirt with a rolled up newspaper bull horn trying to organize the peace meal arrival of the jazz fraternity and Vallejo responds with brown pencil sketches that showcase those already accounted for in full apparel, while those en route and others milling about are outlined.  The poet isn’t so surprised that the original instructions are ignored; after all musicians only hear music.

After an expression of excitement over the impending entry into the annals of jazz history in the poem “So Glad” the unruly kids hanging on the curb are engaged in some physical mayhem which is conveyed in uncompromising terms by author and illustrator in “Scuffle-The Boys”. In the poem about the legendary William “Count” Basie appropriately titled “Names” the many given the music icon are brought forth in furious order.  Even Lester Young and Billie Holiday are part of the scintillating equation.  And Lester, jazz saxophonist extraordinaire, is the subject of the fashionable “How to Make a Porkpie Hat” which enables Vallejo to visit yellow in motion.  A pink blouse and stunning blue Cadillac bring the bring the noted pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams into this once-in-a-lifetime assembly and Orgill and Vallejo coordinate quite an intoxicating treatment.

One of the most famous names in all of jazz, pianist Thelonius Monk was known as one of the tardiest of performers, and his regular gig at the Five Spot in Cooper Square, where there is never enough room for adoring patrons is ably documented. Monk was known to be a workaholic, only catching a reprieve on Mondays.  A stickler for the right match he finally emerged from his West 63rd Street hotel at 10:00 A.M., wearing his trademark bamboo-frame sunglasses, dark slacks and porkpie hat.  Vallejo complies with a sumptuous tapestry dominated by the aging yellow paint on the cab, the royal red hotel door and a full blossom sidewalk tree, always a treat in this most urban of terrains.  An A to Z of clothing brings the reader deeper into the apparel accouterments of the jazz personnel and provides a stunning panorama of the standalone items and eight members fully dressed.  Count Basie’s hat is temporarily swiped, and a short ditty and a quartet of brown-tinted vignettes  bring the initially harrowing episode to a happy conclusion.

The cornetist Rex Stewart, ignoring the request to leave musical instruments behind, allows a young wannabe named Leroy to try making musical magic, but alas must apply his own talent before giving his persistent young friend a second chance to marginally better results.  The author acknowledges the “hole” in the picture caused by the absence 0f Ellington with a bouncy poem that reveals the icon’s location and the jazz great’s propensity to write with lightening speed.  The visceral blue and red art is done in silhouette, and Ellington himself at the piano clad in a white suit is seen here as a force of nature.  Maxine Sullivan (“ain’t misbehavin”) can’t possibly get any more attention as her adoring contemporaries flank her left, right and center, and the writer lays out an impassioned appreciation.

Illustrator Francis Vellejo

A young girl watching from a window serves as a Greek Chorus, and for her the general assessment of this landmark day is decidedly mixed.  She wishes she was older to mingle, and she stores away a detailed memory of what she sees, but she also wants her street back so she can play ball with her friends.  The bold close-up and the outside perspective results in another Vallejo illustrative gem.  The chalky canvas that visualizes Orgill’s “This Moment” where drummer Eddie Locke ponders the incalculable significance of this day affectionately sizes up several in this jazz celebration, including two humorous references to Monk’s  eternal lateness.

“Tempo” with its focus on famed pianist Willie “the Lion” Smith and wrap poems “The Golden Age of Jazz” and “Esquire, 60 Cents” assess the periodical aftermath of this cherished day, with one young boy over the moon to find himself in the picture “In my suspenders/Next to Nelson and the Count.”  A final applause for Art Kane’s perseverance and undying devotion to the project and you have a collection of poems and illustrations just as precious as the actual event.   The Caldecott committee is strongly urged to consider Vallejo’s exquisite art in this Boston-Horn Book  2016 picture book Award winner, miraculously the young artist’s very first picture book.   Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph is a veritable feast for the eyes, and a prime motivator in digging up those old records.

Roxane Orgill

Note:  This is the eighteenth entry in the ongoing 2016 Caldecott Medal Contender series.  The series does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running.  In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration.  It is anticipated the series will include at least 30 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender.  Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end.  The awards will be announced on January 22nd, hence the reviews will continue till two days before that date.