The Mandatory Swing Band - You've Been A Good Old Wagon

First debut video is OUT!
🎙
This “suggestive” song was composed back in 1895 by Benjamin Robertson and the lyrics by Stuart Balcom.
“The Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith recorded probably the most famous version of this song in 1925 under the title “You’ve Been a Good Ole’ Wagon” and here’s our take on it.

——————————————————–

The Mandatory Swing Band reporting for duty!

These notorious five are set on a missionary campaign to spread the gospel of Hot Jazz in the Holy-Land.

Will they succeed? Only the future will tell.

The profiles:

Ella Daniel (vocals) - A swing & cabaret VIP in Israel. A descendant of the royal Bakixanov family of Azerbaijan and a true flame bearer of the blues, widely known in Israel as the leader of The Betty Bears, a New-Orleans dixieland band spreading the message in the holy land.

Duved Dunayevsky (lead guitar) - A former Israelite, today based in the city of lights (yes, Paris) and leading Duved’s Pre-bop Orchestra alongside some other successful musical projects in the style of Django Reinhardt.
Duved is one of the leading voices in the swing scene these days and is a source of inspiration for many gypsy jazz/swing guitarists around the world.

Omer Ashano (violin) - An award-winning jazz violinist, Israeli born and based in the Big Apple (yes, NYC) pre-pandemic. Although Ashano was brought up in the musical environment of swing music and Stephane Grappelli in particular, his recent music and playing is an inspiration to many contemporary jazz stringers around the world.

Alon Sagi (rhythm guitar) - Multi instrumentalist, composer and a producer of a wide range of music - mainly in the ethnic music realm. Sagi is mostly known for his work with Swing De Gitanes band, who had performed a lot in Israel and abroad, alongside great musicians such as Martin Taylor, Katica Illenyi and Bireli Lagrene.

Aner Peker (upright-bass) - The low-end general of the band actually started as a violinist at the age of 9 and only later got into the upright-bass which prompted him tour around the world with groups such as The Angelcy, Folo and The Tel-Aviv Klezmer Ensemble which he founded.
Aner and Duved randomly met on the streets of Jerusalem back in 2012. A duo jam in a quiet staircase in Jerusalem evolved to be a life-long musical friendship.