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Heritage Ensemble Concert



Baruch's Engelman Recital Hall
55 Lexington Ave.
@ 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
Take the R or 6 Train to 23rd Street, walk east to Lexington Avenue and then north to 25th Street



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, but an amalgam of musical and cultural backgrounds that, when combined, result in a fresh and compelling sound.

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, modified in 6/8 or 3/4 waltz meter, such as “Sevivon.” Or perhaps a piece is traditionally performed in a moderate to up-tempo, performed as jazz ballads like “Moaz Tsur.” Sometimes the rhythmic pattern is altered: from a march “tempo” to a Brazilian bossa nova beat or Afro-Cuban style, such as “Adon Olam.”

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.
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