“We’ve Got Rhythms”: Where The Heritage Ensemble Gets Its Spin & Groove

The Marlowsphere Blog (#29)

Last week I posited that in today’s music world no music genre is “pure.” In fact, given the heavy and relenting influence of transportation, information, and communications technologies, it is almost impossible for any music genre not to be touched by “outside” influences.  In effect, the collision of cultures manifested by these technologies has created a “world music” environment from which no one can hide.

The last blog also touched on the various jazz, Afro-Caribbean, Brazilian, and neo-classical style influences on the arrangements and original compositions of my quintet, The Heritage Ensemble.  In this blog, I’ll describe some of the “world music” rhythms underlying these arrangements and original compositions. Some of what follows was penned by colleague Bobby Sanabria  five-time Grammy nominee, drummer,  percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer, filmmaker,  conductor, educator, historian, and multi-cultural warrior—who has been performing with the quintet for several years now.


The Rhythmic Multi-Cultural Brew

Since its inception in the early 1980s, and as the  arranger/composer of The Heritage Ensemble’s repertoire, I have approached each piece with an ear to finding a fresh take on the established melodies. Just like there are only seven plots in literature (read Christopher Booker’s The Seven Basic Plots), there are only a few ways you can arrange a pre-existent melody—by playing with the (1) meter, (2) the tempo, (3) the key, (4) the choice of chords, (5) the instrumentation & orchestration, (6) the structure, and last, but certainly not least, (7) the rhythmic pattern.

For example, on our album “A Fresh Take” (MEII Enterprises 2011), I took an extant melody from the Hebraic liturgy—“V’Taher Lebeinu”—and re-formulated it. Usually sung as a more solemn melody, I added a snippet of another melody, “Yis M’chu,” in the lower range of the piano’s solo introduction following the statement of the original melody with the bass and drums/percussion adding random hits. Right in the  middle of the piece I decided to infuse an up tempo, free-form improvisation starting with the percussion, then the drums, then the bass, followed by the saxophone, and, finally, the piano. The piece ends with a reprise of the opening melody, culminating in a crescendo of sound from all the players. The middle improvised section is hard-driving in tempo and performance.

Sanabria describes the underlying rhythmic pattern as  follows:

Multi-cultural warrior Bobby Sanabria“Hard bop was jazz’s aggressive answer to what had come before. Although still using the rhythmic parameters set by swing in the 1930’s and the harmonic innovations of bebop in the 40’s, hard bop in the 1960’s developed an intense aggressive approach characterized by drummers like Elvin Jones and Tony Williams who added the power of rock to the vocabulary of jazz.

In performance, this somewhat free-form rendition of the original melody provides an opportunity for each player to show off his ‘chops’.”

 Here’s another example. We usually finish our sets  with an arrangement of another Hebraic melody: “Avinu Malkeinu.” Usually sung in a 2/4 meter, I arranged this highly recognizable melody in an up-beat tempo, 6/8 meter. It wasn’t until I started collaborating with Maestro Sanabria that I learned the piece had an underlying bembé rhythmic pattern.

Sanabria describes it this way:

Bembé is a rhythm brought to  Cuba during the colonial period by the Yoruba people from Nigeria, West Africa. The word literally means “feast” and, or “celebration” in honor of the Gods, a.k.a. Orishas. The Yoruba people developed a complex religious belief system based on supernatural deities (over a thousand) explaining everything in nature but with one super deity, Olodumare, controlling everything in the Universe. Only 22 Yoriba people made the trans- Atlantic crossing during the colonial slave period to Cuba and Brazil. It brought forth a re-interpretation of the original belief system, Ifa’, into what has become known as Santeria or Saint worship due to the fact that the Yoruba synchronized their Orishas with the Catholic saints that they saw similarities in the Catholic faith practiced by their oppressors. In this way they could mask the fact that they were still worshiping their own Gods while using the Catholic saints as a cover.

In its original context bembé is played on four drums in descending order of size with a bell marking out the time in 6/8 meter and three shekeres also accompanying.  The entire percussion section is adapted to drum set and congas with the accompaniment of the bass. The rhythm’s two bar characteristic bell pattern is also started in the beginning of the piece in what would normally be the second bar adding to the complexity. In the bridge of “Avinu Malkeinu”  a Venezuelan rhythm known as Joropo which is in 3/4 meter is used as a transitional device.

In the “A Fresh Take” recording of this chart the furious solo exchanges between Maestro Sanabria and percussionist Cristian Rivera display the virtuosity required to play both styles.

A final example is an arrangement of another traditional Hebraic melody: Chanukah, O Chanukah.” Usually sung in a 4/4 meter, I decided to take this melody and explore various rhythmic patterns and compositional styles. In this one arrangement one can hear Latin-rock, Latin-swing, and neo-classical.

Michael Hashim in concert with The Heritage EnsembleThe piece starts out with a strong Latin-rock feel with the saxophone carrying the melody. The bridge gives way to Latin-swing, returning to Latin-rock to complete the usual melodic structure. The improvisation section falls into an up-tempo swing pattern. However, following solos by the saxophonist (Michael Hashim) and myself (on piano), I decided to insert a neo-classical section using Bach’s C major Prelude as a base with Hashim improvising on top. This was followed by a “faux” Baroque style section−with just the two of us improvising—in several keys. The piece reprises to the original melodic line and rhythmic pattern from the opening section.

In one piece, therefore, we incorporate Latin-tinge, rock-tinge, swing, and neo-classical. It may not be strictly Kosher, musically speaking, but it is certainly entertaining for an audience and lots of fun to perform.

All the above-mentioned pieces can be heard on “Celebrations” (MEII Enterprises 2010) and “A Fresh Take” (MEII Enterprises 2011). Or come hear us live at one of our upcoming performances.

And if you’re in the mood to hear just what the drums, percussion, and bass player are doing without interference from any melodic instruments (such as the saxophone of piano), you might also want to check out “Hitz & Pizz” (MEII Enterprises 2012). All three albums can be found at cdbaby.com or at my website eugenemarlow.com.

Please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com if you have any comments on this or any other of my blogs.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
September 24, 2012

© Eugene Marlow 2012

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