UPDATE: There is an album release show at the Jazz Estate this Thursday at 7 p.m. The album is also available for $18, with profits going to the social action committee at Beth Israel Ner Tamid synagogue and partner organizations supporting housing advocacy in Milwaukee.
This story originally aired on Feb. 20
Two Milwaukee musicians recently released an album that’s a jazzy twist on the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Some of the songs were recorded on the roof of local synagogue Beth Israel Ner Tamid.
The whole thing came about because the synagogue’s cantor Jeremy Stein likes to go up on his synagogue’s roof and think. And one day it dawned on him that he should play up there with drummer, vibraphonist and educator Mitchell Shiner... and a whole band.
“And I brought Mitch next time he was with me,” says Stein. “And I said, ‘Mitch, come on up here!’”
Stein says he then told Shiner, "We're gonna play jazz impressions of Fiddler on the Roof, on the roof." To which Shiner responded, "That sounds crazy. Let's do it."
“Then I followed up with, ‘does your insurance allow for something like this?’” recounts Shiner.
Fiddler on the Roof is a soulful musical about a Jewish milkman, Tevya, who’s living in a Russian town called Anatevka in the early 1900’s–navigating persecution but also changing times.
Stein and Shiner did eventually get up on that roof of the Beth Israel Ner Tamid synagogue in Glendale, where Stein works as a cantor. In August, they performed a live concert up there, with drummer Nick Lang, Garrett Waite on guitar, and Jeff Hamann on bass.
The new album On the Roof: Jazz Impressions of Fiddler, includes some tracks recorded on that roof, and others recorded in a studio. Vocalist Elizabeth Notestine is also featured.
The album has renditions of all the favorites like Tradition, To Life! And If I Were a Rich Man, but also lesser-known tracks like Do You Love Me, which is originally a duet between Tevye and Golde, his wife, after he asks her if she loves him — after 25 years of marriage.
The song is a commentary on long-term relationships, and Shiner and Stein play it as a duet between flute and vibraphone. “It was just this very back-and-forth conversation,” says Stein. "And I thought, ‘Wouldn't it be funny if Mitch and I recreated that conversation, just the two of us?’ And that's that track. I'm playing alto flute, which is a larger, lower version of the standard flute. And I thought that would be a nice way to embody Tevye, the baritone.”
Shiner calls Stein a “Jazzy Hazzy” or “Hazzy Jazzy” after Stein’s role as a cantor, or "hazzan." It’s the Hebrew word for cantor. “All cantors are fabulous singers,” says Shiner. “Many can play guitar and other instruments like that. But I don't know too many cantors or hazans who can shred jazz flute. I mean, that is absolutely something so special and unique about Jeremy.”
Stein explains that one of the main scales he riffs in some of these reinterpretations of Fiddler is called, “Freygish” in a klezmer environment, and “Ahava Rabbah” in a synagogue terms. Shiner chimes in that the scale is similar to the fifth mode of harmonic minor, in a jazz context. And a lot of different cultures have that scale in it, but Jews really dig it, the two laugh.
Shiner, who plays vibraphone on the album, gets out of the box in his solos, as well, infusing them with a deep understanding of jazz and Latin jazz traditions and Jewish spirit.
“I mean, a big part of the jazz tradition is the blues tradition, of course,” he says. “And I would try to blend a little bit of that harmonic minor sound, but also throw in a lot of blues licks as well.”
Proceeds from the rooftop concert, where Shiner and Stein recorded some of the album, went to organizations supporting housing advocacy in Milwaukee, like Pathfinders, Project Return, Jewish Family Services and Ovation Communities—Jewish senior living.
So, it's Fiddler on a roof to support roofs. “Yeah, exactly, getting roofs over people's heads,” Shiner summarizes.
There is a free album release party open to the public on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m. at Beth Israel Ner Tamid synagogue in Glendale. The physical or digital album is available to order online.
The album will be on sale for $18, with profits going to the synagogue’s social action committee. Eighteen symbolizes life or “chai’im” in Jewish numerology, which ties in very well to another track on the album: “To Life!”
