2018 Directed by Danny Clinch, T.G. Herrington
A son seeking to fulfill his late father’s dream takes his band from the storied city of New Orleans to the shores of Cuba, where — through the universal language of music — dark and ancient connections between their peoples reveal the roots of jazz.
James Huntsman Todd Slater Andreas Olavarria Ben Jaffe Adam Block Ellen Healy Nicelle Herrington Robert Kandle Mike Martinovich Kristin Patrick
W rytmie Kuby
USA
South by Southwest Film Festival
USA
South Korea전체관람가
South Korea
USA
Grace and I mistakenly thought Gloria Bell was at 630 so we ended up having to see this instead. That was God doing Her work right there. Wonderful movie!!
"We were without a TV or refrigerator, but I could have a flute!"
A fact-finding mission to Cuba to find the roots of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans is full of music, camaraderie, rhythm and heart as we follow the passage of music and musicianship through the eyes of those whose families brought them up on it, and the passion of those who have made the pursuit of instruments and the sounds they make their lives.
Frequent musical ecstasy, but at the price of Ben Jaffe making much of the doc about...Ben Jaffe. Good guy, I'm sure. There's a lot of great Nola and Cuban music though. Would've enjoyed more focus more on musical and cultural heritages and commonalities.
jazz is such a beautiful genre of music that is filled with so much rich history and depth and this doc just scratches the surface of that. i love listening to and playing jazz and this makes me miss playing in a band so much. i feel like to truly understand and appreciate jazz, you just need to spend some time with people who really love it, and this documentary lets you to do that, even if it's only an hour and a half
Documentary Challenge 2020 - Week 31 - July 26-August 1 - Region - Caribbean Documentaries
This week's theme for the 2020 Documentary Challenge was to watch a documentary from the Caribbean region. I may have cheated a bit with this one. Sure, Cuba is in the Caribbean, but the documentary is an American production, oh well.
I chose this film as I love music docs and music in general. I appreciate documentaries that explore the roots of music and the development of genres and regional styles. A TUBA TO CUBA documents a musical tour of Cuba by the house band of the New Orleans Preservation Hall and it purports to be about exploring the connections between New Orleans jazz and…
Established in 1961 by Allan and Sandra Jaffe, Preservation Hall functions as a living monument to New Orleans Jazz. Preservation Hall is never stagnant due to the changing membership of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, as well as the various artists which perform at the venue. While it never changes location, it’s always changing, always growing, always carrying the traditions of jazz forward. In 2014, the Obama Administration reopened travel to Cuba. Ben Jaffe, current Preservation Hall Jazz Band leader and son of the founders, took advantage of this opportunity and organized a two-week trip to Cuba for himself and the 2015 iteration of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band so that the group could explore the Afro-Cuban roots inherent in…
Heartwarming documentary about members of the world-famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band traveling to Cuba to explore musical connections between New Orleans and the island nation. It's a rare film that can put a smile on my face for pretty much its entire runtime, but this one did. Beautiful imagery, toe-tapping music, and humanity at its best throughout. Highly recommended.
(Also, this film just serves to reinforce my belief that the Cuban people want nothing more than to be friends and share their culture with the US, and that our ongoing grudge against their nation is unwarranted. )
Part travelogue, part history lesson and part concert film, the documentary “A Tuba to Cuba” is a fun, music-filled look at one of America’s greatest treasures — New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band — on a journey of discovery in Cuba.
For Ben Jaffe, the tuba player and current leader of the band, a trip to Cuba would fulfill a lifelong dream of his father, Allan Jaffe, Preservation Hall’s founder. Allan and Sandra Jaffe moved to New Orleans from Philadelphia in 1961, and not long after became managers of the hall, which was an art gallery and occasional performance space.
Read the full review at The Movie Cricket: moviecricket.net/blog/2019/2/28/a-tuba-to-cuba
There’s a heap of ambition on display in this documentary by T.G. Herrington and Danny Clinch, and 84 minutes doesn’t feel like quite enough time to capture everything it’s trying to do. On the most basic level, it’s chronicling a tour of Cuba by the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans, with wonderful accompanying live performance footage. It’s also a monument to Preservation Hall’s founder, the late Allan Jaffe, as the film is primarily narrated by Jaffe’s son Ben, a tuba and bass player in the current band. And it’s a tale of the unifying power of music, as people who share few words in a common language bond over the common African roots of New Orleans jazz…
This documentary from directors T.G. Herrington and Danny Cinch is something of a reverse 'Buena Vista Social Club,' in which members of New Orleans’ beloved Preservation Hall Jazz Band travel to Havana and Santiago to unearth musical and cultural traditions, and make connections from Cuban to jazz music that transcend language. Affection for these cities resonates in every frame, as well as for these old pros and their musical battle scars, and since it’s told from inside the group, there’s a welcome musicality to the filmmaking. It comes off a touch disorganized, and by traditional documentary standards, it may be. This is more like a musical performance, exploring themes, pausing for solos, and finding unexpected harmonies.
SXSW Film #9
Fun documentary. I have family roots from Cuba so it was really interesting to see the all the different music cultures there and how it connects to New Orleans jazz. It ran a little to long however. If it was 20 minutes shorter it would’ve been better.
