Some say that every song is essentially a love story interpreted in different ways. The story can be about a girl, a boy, a mood or a theme.
Many of our songs have been covered by outstanding musicians in the past. We believe that a song that has entered the pantheon of standards is always flexible enough to be reinterpreted by different generations of musicians.
Swing East was born in Taiwan but our format has always been to introduce musicians from all over the world who share our passion.
The band producer, Mo Khashoggi began his dedication to these songs in the late seventies. First recording in France in the early eighties and eventually performing a Cabaret show in New York in the nineties.
The songs are mostly recorded for listening and Swing East appears from time to time all over the world for intimate evenings showcasing our sound.
Swing East is a platform aimed at transmitting the knowledge and experience of a generation that learned from the legends—Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Dean Martin—many of whom Mo had the honor and pleasure of meeting and learning from.
Mo Khashoggi’s career is steeped in the golden glow of New York’s cabaret scene. After studying music in New York in the late 1980s, he was persuaded in the early 1990s by his close friend and mentor Tony Bennett to gather a small trio and take on the city’s vibrant but demanding cabaret circuit.
From smoky uptown lounges to downtown cabaret rooms, Mo quickly distinguished himself as a passionate interpreter of the Great American Songbook. He blended these classics with the work of European songwriters from the same era, crafting a repertoire that was both timeless and distinctive. His trio soon expanded into a quartet, and during their first year they paid homage to the legendary Hot Club of France. That project culminated in a debut album recorded entirely with strings—rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, and violin—before taking the show on tour.
By the late 1990s, Mo was leading a full-scale swing orchestra with a roaring six-piece horn section, lighting up stages across New York. The pinnacle of that journey was a triumphant Broadway performance—cementing his reputation in the heart of American cabaret.
Mo later turned his talents toward film, where he produced one of Spanish cinema’s most iconic musical comedies, The Other Side of the Bed. His creative path eventually led him into writing and media production, while he stepped away from the stage to pursue new horizons.
Like many artists, the solitude of the COVID years reignited Mo’s passion for music. Isolated at home, he returned to the piano and began sketching fresh arrangements of old standards. Now, after decades away from the spotlight, Mo is stepping back on stage with a bold new vision.
In 2025, he launches Swing East, a new platform dedicated to reviving and celebrating the cabaret format in East Asia—beginning in Taiwan and Japan. The project brings the intimacy of cabaret back to the forefront, with Mo curating performances that feature delicate string duos and trios in live settings, and lush quintets in recording. It is a return not just to the music, but to the atmosphere of intimacy, wit, and sophistication that defines the cabaret tradition.
Mo Khashoggi’s story is one of reinvention—New York cabaret to Broadway, cinema to media, and now, a return to the songbook that shaped him. With Swing East, he is carrying the torch of the Great American Songbook into new cultural landscapes, reminding audiences that timeless music knows no borders.
Yifang Ko earned her Doctor of Arts degree in classical guitar from Ball State University, Indiana, in 2009. Since then, she has dedicated her career to both teaching and performing. Currently, she teaches at the School of Music at Fu Jen Catholic University, Aletheia University, and various high schools. From 2019 to 2022, she served as the director of the Taiwan Guitar Society.
She also founded the Con Brio Guitar and Ukulele Orchestra to inspire more people to enjoy playing music.
As a professional classical guitarist, Ko is expanding her musical horizons by studying jazz and composition. Though still a beginner in these areas, she is committed to becoming a more well-rounded musician. For her, music is about sharing and connecting with people.
Graduated as a percussion major from Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan, she specializes in Latin American rhythms and their fusion with contemporary soundscapes. Her musical style blends precise technique, playful creativity, and a storyteller’s touch, spanning percussion performance, rhythm arrangement, and cross-genre collaboration. On stage, she delivers performances that are both vibrant in energy and rich in depth.
Active in both live performance and the rhythm game music industry, Carol is recognized for her distinctive ability to merge Latin grooves with modern music production. Her performances invite audiences to move, smile, and connect, while she continues to explore new sonic textures, with rhythm, culture, and creativity at the heart of her work.
Holds a Diploma in Dual Majors (Jazz Composition / Contemporary Writing & Production) from Berklee College of Music, USA. Her musical style blends jazz and pop, with expertise in piano performance, production, arranging, and improvisation.
Currently active as a songwriter, composer and arranger in the pop music industry, she is also the pianist for the jazz big band ETO, performing regularly at Blue Note Taipei, and serves as the Jam Session Host at Vagabond Café in Shilin. She has also participated in cross-genre collaborations including improvisational comedy and has been deeply engaged in studying and integrating traditional Taiwanese music, striving to develop a contemporary musical language with cultural depth.
Cait Lin 凱琳 is a bilingual Australian-Taiwanese singer-songwriter, blending soul, R&B and jazz into emotionally rich, genre-fluid songs. A jazz-trained vocalist and ICRT radio host, she’s known for her warm tone and lyrical honesty.
Her upcoming EP Gradients explores themes of self-renewal, presence, and vulnerability—produced across Taiwan and Australia, with each track reflecting a different color and mood.
Cait is also the lead vocalist of ZY THE WAY 中庸, a jazz-poetry collective whose debut earned two Global Music Awards, praise from Gilles Peterson and feature in DownBeat magazine.
In 2022, she co-won a Queensland Music Award for her work on 就當家裡 with Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra. With fans across the Asia-Pacific, her music connects deeply across language and culture.
Music is the way to express your emotions and the thing you enjoyed most in life – it’s one of the most important parts of our lives.
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