One summer morning in 1958, a group of jazz notables gathered on the steps of a Harlem brownstone for a photo that became iconic. Basie, Mingus and Monk are gone – only Sonny Rollins remains now.
Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the sole survivor from a celebrated 1959 photograph. AP
On August 12, 1958, Art Kane gathered 58 jazz notables in front of an East 126th Street brownstone in Harlem for a group portrait.
What started out as “sort of a graduation photo or class picture of all the jazz musicians,” as Kane once put it, became perhaps the most emblematic and enduring image from the genre’s golden age.
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Original URL: https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/the-sole-survivor-from-jazz-s-most-important-photograph-20241217-p5kz27