Early life Born in
the Bronx to a
Jewish family, Jaffe grew up in
New York City. Having fulfilled his high school requirements at the age of sixteen, Jaffe left New York to attend
Penn State University, where he studied American history and literature, art history, and modern philosophy.
Early films and conceptual art Jaffe left Penn State at the age of 19, returned briefly to New York where he played harmonica and guitar in various bands, and then picked up suddenly and moved to Brazil. Through the music scene there, he was introduced into a circle of friends making experimental films. There, he directed such films as the 16 mm film
Nine Ways of Dying, created in the remote mountains of Brazil. Jaffe became close to the influential Brazilian filmmaker Neville d’Almeida and the artist
Hélio Oiticica, with whom he collaborated in the April 1970 exhibition “From Body to Earth” in
Belo Horizonte. When Jaffe returned in New York in 1971, he continued making films, such as
Impact, with the conceptual artist
Vito Acconci, and
Brooklyn Bridge, with
Gordon Matta-Clark. He followed Marley back to Jamaica on what was originally a two-week vacation, but ended up staying for the next five years. Jaffe lived with Marley, managing the Wailers, playing harmonica on the album
Natty Dread, and organizing their North American tour. In Jamaica, Jaffe also met
Peter Tosh, and he produced his album
Legalize It and shot the iconic cover in 1977. His works have been characterized as “large scale, multi-media historical assemblage.” Through his work, he has explored various themes of marginalization in American history, such as “the exploitation of the black performer in America, the cruelty of the fur industry, the relationship of the Native American to his environment, the ambiguity of America's traitors.” Jaffe has exhibited at major museums worldwide, including
Moderna Museet,
Stockholm, Sweden;
Irish Museum of Modern Art,
Dublin, Ireland; and the
Ikon Gallery,
Birmingham, England.
Recent work In the mid-80s, Jaffe produced records for reggae pioneer
Joe Higgs, Grammy-nominated
The Wailing Souls, and dancehall innovator
Barrington Levy. In 2003, he wrote
ONE LOVE: Life with Bob Marley and the Wailers, published by W.W. Norton and Sons. In 2013, Jaffe co-wrote a book with French scholar and Jamaican popular music specialist,
Jérémie Kroubo Dagnini,
Bob Marley and the Wailers: 1973-1976, published by Camion Blanc (French language). This book is a sort of autobiography in which Jaffe reveals precious details about his meetings and relations with
Bob Marley and other extraordinary artists including
Peter Tosh,
Hélio Oiticica,
Vito Acconci, and
Jean-Michel Basquiat just to name a few. Jaffe lives today in New York, where he continues to produce films and create his large-scale painting and assemblage. ==Film==