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(It also leaves out the fact that hesMia Goths grandfather.)
Jaffe in New York in 1976.
Vogue: Where do we even start?
Lee Jaffe:I left college toward the end of 1968 and moved to Brazil early the next year.
We were just told, You guys better leaveyou cant be doing this.
Jaffe (right) with Marley in 1973.
It was barely getting started as a movement, wasnt it?
I revolted against the object-making of it all.
So you turned to…making films?
Jaffe (far right) on harmonica with Peter Tosh at the Beacon Theatre.
People liked it, and from that, I planned to make my first feature film in Chile.
Rootsyou mean they were looking for something like ayahuasca?
No, ayahuasca is a mix of stems and leaves; this was something organic and completely pure.
Basquiat at work in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1983.
Waitbut howd you meet Chris [Blackwell, thefounder of Island Records] and Bob?
When I had called Esther, she just said, Be at my flat at 7 oclock.
Were going to the movies.
Marley reading a Bible, 1973.
I was the only non-Jamaican in the audience, and the place was going crazy.
That was my introduction to Jamaica.
But youve still got this film to make, yeah?
Amistad: Portrait of Cinque(oil on shaped canvas, 1983), a painting Jaffe did in collaboration with Jean-Michel Basquiat. Photo courtesy of Lee Jaffe.
I was supposed to go to ChileI had blocked out 20 days with everybody.
But they were on the verge of a coup in Chile.
But I had my cast and crew here in New York, and Traffic was playing Madison Square Garden.
Courtesy Lee Jaffe
He had a cassette of the then-unreleased first Island album,Catch a Fire.
I had seenThe Harder They Come, so I was indoctrinated.
And it was like the best album I ever heard, on so many levels.
Bob was really, really impressed.
Jaffe (right) with Marley in 1973.
56 Hope Road [now the site of theBob Marley Museum]?
Yeahand there was an extra bedroom where I could stay.
It was like:Whoahhhhhh.
I chickened out and organized the tour.
How much were people paying Bob Marley to come play then?
Not enough to pay the bands expenses.
But in New York, there was a place called Maxs Kansas City.
It was also the beginning of glam rock, and Bowie and Iggy Pop would be there.
Then he looked at me and said: The Drifters, with raised consciousness.
Ill put you guys on.
Jaffe (far right) on harmonica with Peter Tosh at the Beacon Theatre.
And all of this isbeforeJean-Michel Basquiat comes into your life?
How, or where, did you meet Basquiat?
And how did you come to travel the world together?
Jean-Michel just bought this ticket one day.
You want to come along?
So I bought a ticket.
You could fly anywhere for, what, a year?
Nojust for a few weeks.
Rightand you went where?
Japan, Thailand, and Switzerland.
Basquiat at work in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1983.
No, he just wanted to go there.
In Japan, he did aphoto shoot with Issey Miyakethat was kind of fun.
Obviously at some point, drugs and addiction come into the pictureor maybe it was there all the time?
Off and onand I didnt know.
I wasnt involved with that circle of friends that were doing heroin, like Rene Ricard.
I was just doing my thing.
It was very significant.
And the wholeMarcus Garvey thingyeah.
Its a symbol of not accepting the colonialist, capitalist system.
Marley reading a Bible, 1973.
Did people in New York view you suspiciously because of this?
I couldnt have cared lessI was in the Wailers!
To me, it was better than being in the Rolling Stones.
I was onstage in Central Park, playing for thousands of people of all different ethnicities.
I mean, no one had an audience like that.
Did you realize at the time how lucky you were or how amazing this was?
YeahI realized it from when I first heard the first song onCatch a Fire.
To me, there was nothing more incredible than that.
It informed everything Ive done since.
And he had 27 kids.
Photo courtesy of Lee Jaffe.
He had 27 kids?
The hardest part of the job was what to do with the money.
Because you had to launder real money, but from small bills into large bills.
I was always really nervous about them walking with all of that money, but they didnt care.
But my mother would change the $5 bills for me.
Mom takes care of everything.
She didnt want to know how I had the billsshe didnt want to know anything about it.
Were you living like a king?
I didnt know what a king lives like.
I was living well enough to make these paintings, and then I started to sell the paintings.
But this is what got you going.
I have it stillhe made a few prints.
I never believed any of it.
People knew who they were.
Why didnt you believe their stories?
Is it because the walls of 56 Hope Road kind of kept the world outside?
Well, Bob had a little bit of money because he had a song on a Johnny Nash album.
It wasnt a lot of money, but it was something.
And how did you come to play on records with Bob and the Wailers?
The first time was on a song called Rebel Music (3 OClock Roadblock).
Roadblock referred to the police stopping the dreadlock people and throwing them in jail for smoking herb.
So I record the song, and it started blowing up in the dance halls.
I mean, eventually they played it, yeah?
Its a legendary song.
[Jaffe smiles.]
He went down to Brazil to play professionally, and hed come back.
You know what Im saying?
This went on for more than a year.
The single, or from the album?
But yes: Eventually it went on theNatty Dreadalbum, after Peter [Tosh] left Bob.
Bob said, Youre fucking up.
I dont know where to come in, I said.
Bob sent Family Man in, the bass player.
When I tap you twice, you stop.
And the thing blew up!
It was a big deal.
Did you make a lot of money from that?
Nobut it made my life.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
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