Tomorrow’s Warriors share ‘A Great Day In London’ photograph of the London jazz scene inspired by Art Kane’s iconic 1958 image

Mike Flynn
Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The talent development organisation, creative producer and charity marked its 30th anniversary in 2021 by gathering leading names from across the London jazz scene to create a unique image

‘A Great Day In London’ - photograph by Suki Dhanda
‘A Great Day In London’ - photograph by Suki Dhanda

On 4 December 2021, Tomorrow’s Warriors celebrated its then 30 years anniversary, with the biggest jazz happening in a generation – A Great Day In London, a gathering of over 100 UK jazz musicians from across the Tomorrow’s Warriors family of illustrious alumni for a special commemorative photograph to document the momentous occasion. This special commemorative print is now available to purchase for the first time as an A2 poster and comes with an accompanying ‘Who’s Who’ insert with a complete list of the musicians featured in the picture.

Taken on the steps at London’s Southbank Centre, by celebrated photographer Suki Dhanda, the photograph was the prelude to a joyous concert of the same name at Queen Elizabeth Hall, a VIP afterparty, with guest DJs and the hottest Warriors jam ever. 

Inspired by Art Kane’s 1958 iconic photo essay, A Great Day in Harlem, (which captured 57 of the greatest jazz musicians of the time), Tomorrow’s Warriors have created with this photo a once in a lifetime gathering of Warriors from across its then 30 year history, to recognise the achievements of an exhilarating generation of musicians. 

The photo features the true UK Jazz greats, from Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Ezra Collective, Moses Boyd, Zara McFarlane, Camilla George, Cherise, Dave Okumu, Theon Cross, ESKA, Theon Cross, Binker Golding, Denys Baptiste, as well as Tomorrow’s Warriors own founders Dr Gary Crosby OBE and Janine Irons OBE, and more.

Gary Crosby commented on the photo: “A Great Day In London sees Tomorrow’s Warriors 30th anniversary year celebrated as a glorious moment in our collective musical history. The original image of ‘A Great Day In Harlem’ by Art Kane documented a moment in time of a burgeoning scene, and the parallel we see today in UK jazz is undeniable. It was magical to bring our Warriors family together in homage to this iconic image and document our 30th anniversary milestone at the same time!”

All proceeds from sales of the poster will go towards enabling Tomorrow’s Warriors continuing its vital work in jazz education, talent development, and artistic commissioning and curation.

For more info visit www.tomorrowswarriors.org

The A2 poster of the photo is available to buy for £25 on Bandcamp here tomorrowswarriors.bandcamp.com - included poster only, delivered unframed

Subscribe from only £5.83

Never miss an issue of the UK's biggest selling jazz magazine.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine.

Find out more