The Heritage Ensemble is a quintet devoted to the concert performance of traditional and familiar Hebraic melodies in various jazz, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian styles, with a touch of classicism for good measure. However, the Heritage Ensemble is not merely about taking Hebraic melodies and giving them new musical twists. Our concerts are about an amalgam of musical and cultural backgrounds that, when combined, result in what we feel is a fresh and compelling sound.

The concept for The Heritage Ensemble originated in the early 1980s when Eugene Marlow was asked to perform a version of “L’Cha Dodi” at a week-end Shabbaton. The beginning text of L’Cha Dodi is “Beloved, come to meet Shabbat.” In the process of preparing “L’Cha Dodi” for the Shabbaton he explored the jazz chord possibilities underneath the melodic line. From this simple beginning has evolved a portfolio of arrangements of Hebraic liturgical and folksong melodies. It also resulted in an album, “Making the Music Our Own” released in 2006.

Other melodies in the quintet’s repertoire include Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem, V’Taher Lebeinu, a Chassidic melody from the liturgy, and several Purim and Chanukah festival favorites, such as “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.”

The Heritage Ensemble explores the possibilities of performance arrangements in terms of chords, rhythmic patterns, meter, and melodic structure. For example, a piece might originally be written in 4/4 time. We have modified some of these pieces, and perform them in 6/8 or 3/4 waltz meter, such as “Sevivon.” Or perhaps a piece is traditionally performed in a moderate to up-tempo. We have taken these pieces and perform them as jazz ballads, like “Moaz Tsur.” Sometimes we alter the rhythmic pattern: from a march “tempo” to a Brazilian bossa nova beat or Afro-Cuban style, such as “Adon Olam.” Whatever the melody, we always look for harmonic possibilities as a way of enhancing the original compositional line.

But the Heritage Ensemble is more than a performance repertoire of contemporary arrangements of melodies from the Hebraic songbook. The very name of the quintet has meaning. It was chosen because we recognize that whatever we perform today is based largely on what has come before. We have inherited melodies from an evolving Jewish culture, some of that are hundreds of years old, but they have endured over time to become highly familiar wherever in the world they are sung or played. The texts to which the melodies are attached are even more rooted in the past, yet we still find meaning in them in the present.

Just as the Jewish peoples and many, many other cultures around the world over time have adapted to changing conditions and evolved their cultural values in response, The Heritage Ensemble represents an aesthetic expression of the reality of adaptation and evolution. The quintet is a reflection of the mixing of cultures that has increasingly occurred in the world of music in recent decades.

For example, the musicians in the quintet come from various cultural backgrounds. Multi-Grammy nominee drummer Bobby Sanabria and conguero Cristian Rivera are Nuyoricans: New Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage. Their personal and professional backgrounds are rich in West-African, Caribbean, and Afro-Cuban cultures.

Saxophonist Michael Hashim is of Lebanese descent. His last name closely resembles the Hebrew word Hashem which means “the name,” an oblique reference to Adonai, the Jewish God. His Middle-Eastern heritage together with a broad jazz background fits well with our group.

Phi Beta Kappa bassist Frank Wagner’s European background adds a certain old-world stability to our performances. He’s also an educator. It is perhaps no accident his instrument is the bass.

Eugene Marlow’s family background is Russian, German, Polish, and British. He’s a fourth generation musician with studies in jazz and classical music. This cultural mixture gives a unique character to the group’s musical eclecticism.

The Heritage Ensemble’s performances, therefore, make a social statement: individuals from different cultures and values can perform together; when mixed together, the roots of the content remain intact, but the performance takes on deeper meaning because of the combination of disparate cultural elements.

We think there is an even deeper message in this. Taking the chance to mix things up, to experiment, to put unlike things side-by-side is an opportunity to create something unique. The Heritage Ensemble takes pleasure in performing its repertoire because it represents an opportunity to bring seemingly unlike things together, to create community in an audience, to bring the old into the present, and to give a future to the value of eclectic aesthetic.