[Dixielandjazz] Swing de Gitanes at the Havana Club in Tel-Aviv

[Marek Boym]

Hello,
I didn't attend, but here are Donna's impressions:

Swing de Gitanes at Havana Club

Swing de Gitanes provided another exciting experience last Friday night at
Havana Club in Tel Aviv. They never cease to amaze, surprise and delight me
with the way they meld to create innovative, melodic and just plain
hard-driving swing (and I've been to many of their performances over the
years and listen to their CD and whatever they post on You Tube)! Yaakov
Hoter and Ori Ben-Zvi on guitar and Oren Sagi on string bass make beautiful
music together and really connect with each other and with each audience.
This one included many Russian speakers and quite a few who were either
hearing the group for the first time or had only heard them once or twice
before, yet I heard members of the audience humming along with Autumn
Sidewalks by Oren Sagi and Yaboganza by Ori Ben Zvi and there were lots of
hand-clapping and shouts of encouragement all along, and that was even
though the venue was one with a chef's menu and people were eating and
drinking. I could tell they were, nevertheless, focused on the music! When
Yaakov announced Yaboganza, one of the crowd shouted out, "что это такое?"
(What is that?)! Ori has admitted that it's an invented exclamation of joy!
The piece reminds me of "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" and "The Ballad of
Billy-Joe." I'm not looking those songs up now, but am sure you can find
them if you like. I was particularly impressed with Friday night's
rendition of Avalon. Two pieces that were either medleys or just had an
unusually liberal helping of interpolation also stood out and reminded me
of the way Johnny Russell of Edinburgh's Gypsy swing group, Swing 'xx
(whatever year it happens to be) once announced the piece they'd just
played "I don't know what you call that number, but I call it fast!" Swing
de Gitanes always delivers a performance full of variety, pure swing and
truly beautiful music. They'll be giving a free concert in Netanya on
August 2nd, so whoever's reading this in Israel - this is your chance for a
great evening of music, with sea breezes thrown in! For those of you
abroad, if the great microbreweries and wineries aren't enough to draw you
here, perhaps the music will!