Two weeks after his 101th birthday, pianist and composer Irving Fields passed away August 20, 2016 in Manhattan. He was perhaps the longest working musician in the world. At the age of hundred, he used to play the piano several nights a week at Nino’s Tuscany restaurant in Manhattan. Irving Fields became known by fusing Jewish tunes, jazz, and popular songs with Latin music.

Born as Isidore Schwartz in 1915 New York City to Jewish immigrants, Irving Fields started working as a pianist in the thirties during the years of the Great Depression. In this time of high unemployment, he started playing piano in resort hotels in the Catskills Mountains, and then he found work as a pianist on cruise ships sailing from New York to Havana, capital city of Cuba. In Havana, Irving Fields listened to the great Cuban orchestras, and developed his love for Latin music. Attracted by pictures from palm trees and beaches in travel magazines, Irving decided to settle in Miami Beach and performed in hotels playing dinner music, and did sessions with local orchestras. Read More About This…

This documentary is filled with nostalgia, humor, “Who knew?” information and old home movie clips (I could swear I saw my Aunt Sadie dancing at a Bar Mitzvah!)

Tracing the origins of Hava Nagila from the shtetls of Europe to Israel, and on to New York and Los Angeles, we come to understand how this song became a part of our family turning up at every Bar Mitzvah and wedding. Read More About This…