Thu. Nov. 7: THE HOT SARDINES -7:30pm- $45.00
“Not many bands have seized the postmillennial early-jazz spotlight
with as much gusto as The Hot Sardines.” —WBGO
Founded in 2011 by Elizabeth Bougerol and Evan Palazzo over a mutual love of Fats Waller, the Hot Sardines skyrocketed from the wild underground parties of Brooklyn. Described by The New York Times as “potent and assured” and The Times of London as “simply phenomenal,” the Sardines have been touring their brand of reinvigorated classic jazz worldwide behind a string of celebrated albums and over 60 million digital streams, across platforms.
On August 4, The Hot Sardines will release C’est La Vie, a bilingual affair of vintage jazz standards and originals, written by Bougerol and Palazzo. The title song, a Bossa nova original in French, is a timely ode to fully living each moment, even when you don’t know what the next will bring. Unable to travel home in past years, Elizabeth spent time rediscovering and recording early French music, including the 1938 gypsy-jazz breezer “J’attendrai” (Dino Olivieri, Louis Poterat), the dark Django Reinhardt ballad “Si Tu Savais” (Georges Ulmer), and “I Wish You Love,” the 1942 standard by Charles Trenet and Léo Chauliac, with English lyrics by Albert Beach.
The ensemble is sharing a video for a gospel-inflected version of “Moon River”, born when Elizabeth and Evan were tapped by director Greg Mottola to contribute music—and a cameo— to the Miramax release Confess, Fletch (2022, Jon Hamm and John Slattery). Additional music for the film includes the new Sardines original “Adieu l’amour,” a foray into the sounds of film noir, and “La Vie en Rose,” a hushed duet with Bob Parins (with whom Elizabeth sang his original “Sweet Pea,” a breakout hit from the Sardines’ album French Fries + Champagne).
“We called our last album Welcome Home, Bon Voyage because we were literally always getting on a plane. We were so lucky to have that success, and we were finally able to reflect on it,” says Elizabeth. Adds Evan, “So we said, What do we want to do now? It turned out we really wanted to write and record more music.” The pair focused on a stripped-down sound to record remotely, calling on collaborators from Los Angeles to Beijing, using very 21st-century technology to record songs written nearly 100 years ago.
The Hot Sardines will be touring throughout 2023-24, including a debut at Carnegie Hall on April 19, 2024, featuring special guest Alan Cumming. They are also producing an original show about that larger-than-life driver of the Harlem renaissance, Fats Waller.
