the black-and-white photograph which formed the basis of "a great day in harlem" is a portrait of fifty-seven prominent jazz musicians who were photographed in front of a brownstone at 17 east 126th street in the harlem neighborhood of upper manhattan. bach learned that jazz bassist milt hinton had a home movie from the day of photo shoot in 1958. she acquired minton's home movie and used it or archival footage for her own film, "a great day in harlem", an hour-long documentary released in 1994. her film won the top award from the chicago international film festival and earned an academy award for documentary feature nomination in 1995.