Mood Mix with Zisha Schnitzler  

A member of the uber musical Schnitzler clan, arranger ZISHA SCHNITZLER has had a hand in many projects, arranging music and collaborating with top-tier professionals including Lipa, Yossi Green, Moshy Kraus, and his uncle Michoel Schnitzler a”h. Although he left the music industry a year ago to open a different business, his heart still beats with the Jewish music scene.

HOW I GOT MY START

I grew up in Monroe, but my wife is Australian, so I started off married life in Australia, where I had a small studio in our spare bedroom. I was a one-man-band there, and I played all the weddings — which totaled like four weddings a year. In 2016, when I returned to the US, Moshy Kraus approached me to work with him on the Shabbos Nachas album he did as part of the Yiddish Nachas series. From there I jumped into music full-time.

MUSIC ARTISTS I CONNECT TO

Motty Ilowitz’s material is very thought-out and so positive. I appreciate his songs a lot. I listen to a lot of Baruch Levine and to the older Yaakov Shwekey albums. I love the ones that Yochi Briskman produced around 20 years ago. They have something special.

AN ARRANGER I ADMIRE

Hershy Ginsberg from London. He is a master at making the music so integral to the song that you can’t imagine the song without it.

MUSIC THAT TAKES ME BACK TO MY CHILDHOOD

Moshe Goldman’s music takes me back to those days. We used to listen to his albums a lot. Plus, the older music of my uncle, Michoel Schnitzler. I remember listening to the Neshamah Flam series as a child. The album Der Tatteh Hert really spoke to me then.