Mahzel (Means Good Luck) – The Ravens
The Ravens song that never gets posted. “Mahzel” (Yiddish for “luck”), with Leonard Puzey, Jimmy “Ricky” Ricks singing bass, and Maithe Marshall sharing lead (featuring Ricky). The writers of “Mahzel” (Artie Wayne and Jack Beekman) came to a Ravens’ rehearsal with the song.
Pianist/Arranger Howard Biggs started playing around with it and worked out an arrangement. They all thought it was “cute”.
Why, however, would two writers of an essentially Jewish song first show up at the doorstep of a black R&B group detouring from their route to present it to Artie Shaw? Possibly because they were friends of National Record’s Al Green, the Ravens new label.