Ben Jaffe | |
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Background information | |
Born | January 26, 1971 |
Genres | Jazz, New Orleans Jazz |
Instrument(s) | Tuba, double bass |
Website | preservationhalljazzband |
Benjamin Jaffe (born January 26, 1971) is the creative director of Preservation Hall and plays tuba and double bass with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. [1]
He is the son of Preservation Hall's former managers, Allan Jaffe and Sandra Jaffe. Jaffe grew up in New Orleans' French Quarter, two blocks from Preservation Hall. His father, Allan, in addition to managing the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Preservation Hall, played tuba with the band as well. From birth, Ben was brought on tour with the band during their international tours. Ben’s early musical memories are marching alongside his father in Mardi Gras Parades and jazz funeral processions. He began playing in grammar school at McDonogh 15 School for the Creative Arts in the French Quarter. During high school at NOCCA, he studied upright bass under Walter Payton. [2] After high school, Ben attended Oberlin College where he received a degree in bass performance in 1992.
Following his graduation, Ben returned to New Orleans, resumed his father's position as manager of the Preservation Hall venue and joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on tour playing bass. Benjamin produced a number of albums for the Preservation Hall band, and most recently co-produced the band's first album of original compositions "That's It," alongside My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James.
Benjamin serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Preservation Hall Foundation, the charitable non-profit that serves the mission to "protect, preserve and perpetuate New Orleans jazz music and culture."
In episode 6 of "Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways," Dave Grohl interviews Ben about his parents' role in preserving New Orleans jazz, the history of Preservation Hall and Jaffe's current role as director, operating the hall.
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So It Is is a studio album by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was released on April 21, 2017 on Legacy Recordings, produced by TV On the Radio's Dave Sitek and Ben Jaffe, and recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX. Dave had the band record in the round so they could feed off of each other's energy.
A Tuba to Cuba is a 2018 American documentary film about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The leader of New Orleans' famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band seeks to fulfill his late father's dream of retracing their musical roots to the shores of Cuba in search of the indigenous music that gave birth to New Orleans jazz. A Tuba to Cuba celebrates the triumph of the human spirit expressed through the universal language of music and challenges us to resolve to build bridges, not walls. The film was directed by T. G. Herrington and Danny Clinch and narrated by Ben Jaffe whose parents founded Preservation Hall in a segregated 1961 New Orleans. The documentary had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, where Michael King of the Austin Chronicle exclaimed that it is "very likely to become a classic of the music documentary genre."