Hit Me with Music

In his new book, Jaffe pulls back the curtain to reveal an intimate glimpse of Bob Marley and the Wailers during their rise to notoriety from 1971-73, a socially and politically transformative period in Jamaican history. Lee Jaffe is a cross-disciplinary visual artist, musician and poet who captured extremely intimate photographs of Bob Marley and The Wailers during the last three years that they performed together. After their initial introduction in their mutual friend Chris Blackwell's room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, Jaffe went on to forge a close creative partnership and friendship with Marley and eventually lived with him and his wife, Rita, in Jamaica. A first-hand witness to the birth of reggae music, he even had the opportunity to perform on stage and produce music in the studio with Marley and his band as well as travel extensively with them through rural Jamaica, London, Los Angeles, and New York. Throughout their time together, Jaffe consistently captured portraits that offer an intimate view of the lives of these legendary performers, revealing both their struggles and successes against the backdrop of a politically and socioeconomically turbulent Jamaica. His photographs accompanied by his first-person accounts and stories provide music fans with key moments that inspired some of Marley's most beloved lyrics and songs.