Filmmaker Shinichi Takahashi and Stephen Weir - Q&A about Cu-Bop
The Cu-Bop Drop. Q&A with the Japanese director who took a NYC Jazz man home to Cuba to jam! By Stephen Weir Cu-Bop is about to drop large and the Caribbean Camera knows why. Last week the paper printed Stephen Weir’s story about a Japanese made movie which will be premiering at the 2020 CaribbeanTales Film Festival. The feature length Cu-Bop Across The Border is a Jazz Tale of Two Cities. Axel Tosca plays piano in Harlem while Cesar Lopez is Cuba’s beloved virtuoso saxophonist. Filmmaker Shinichi Takahashi brings Tosca across the border to hold a Cu-Bop jam with Lopez and music magic is made. ( Cu-Bop refers to a popular 40’s style of music based on Afro-Cuban rhythms that have been mashed up with American jazz harmonies. ) Films director and self confessed jazz bar fanatic Shinichi Takahashi talked, online, with Stephen Weir about how he came to make this musical documentary about Cu-Bop jazz in New York City and Havana, Cuba. What follows is an edited version of