A musical journey with a Cuban beat

The rousing documentary “A Tuba to Cuba” (Is that not the best title?) takes us on an inspiring two-week trip with New Orleans’ celebrated Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Cuba for a culture-bridging whirlwind of music, dance and bonhomie. Just sit back and enjoy.

Preservation Hall creative director and tubaplaying band member (also bass and banjo) Ben Jaffe, whose parents founded the Hall in 1961, is our charismatic guide as he and his fellow jazzmen — including saxophonist Clint Maedgen, trombonist Ronell Johnson, drummer Walter Harris, pianist Kyle Roussel and saxand-clarinet vet Charlie Gabriel — go on a heart-andsoul-quenching 2015 journey to explore the roots of New Orleans jazz that are “firmly planted” in Cuba.

Directors T.G. Herrington (he also wrote) and Danny Clinch’s cameras follow the PHJB across the island — from Havana to Santiago de Cuba (“Another country in the same country!”) to Cienfuegos — as its members visit, learn about, befriend and play music with a wide and exuberant array of locals.

Jaunty, at times poetic chats and drop-ins with Big Easy and Cuban jazz artists, discussion of their music’s African lineage (the Atlantic slave trade factored in), stirring examples of native instrumentation, and pulsating performances combine with colorful, traveloguetype shots (love those old Cuban theaters) and vivid archival footage to create a vibrant and joyous portrait. “A Tuba to Cuba.” In English and Spanish with English subtitles. Not rated. Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes. Playing: Laemmle Glendale

Danny Clinch Blue Fox Entertainment CUBAN MUSICIAN Yohandi Arguin in “A Tuba to Cuba,” which follows a cultural bridge-building trip.