Fueled by the belief that classic
jazz feeds the heart and soul, the Hot Sardines are on a mission to make old
sounds new again and prove that joyful music can bring people together in a
disconnected world.
In the last two years, The Hot
Sardines have been featured at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreal Jazz
Festival, have sold out New York City venues from Joe’s Pub to Bowery Ballroom
and more than 150 tour dates from Chicago to London, and have released two
albums on Universal Music Classics to critical raves and a No. 1 slot on the
iTunes Jazz chart in the U.S. and internationally.
In the talented hands of the New
York-based ensemble, music first made famous decades ago comes alive through
their brassy horn arrangements, rollicking piano melodies, and vocals from a
chanteuse who transports listeners to a different era with the mere lilt of her
voice. On French Fries & Champagne, The Hot Sardines’ new album
for Universal Music Classics, the jazz collective broadens its already
impressive palette, combining covers and originals as they effortlessly channel
New York speakeasies, Parisian cabarets and New Orleans jazz halls.
Bandleader Evan Palazzo and lead
singer Elizabeth Bougerol met in 2007 after they both answered a Craigslist ad
about a jazz jam session above a Manhattan noodle shop. The unlikely pair — she
was a London School of Economics-educated travel writer who grew up in France,
Canada and the Ivory Coast, he was a New York City born and raised actor who
studied theater at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia—bonded over their
love for Fats Waller. Influenced also by such greats as Dinah Washington, Louis
Armstrong and Billie Holiday, they began playing open mic nights and small gigs
and by 2011, they headlined Midsummer Night Swing at New York’s Lincoln Center.
The Hot Sardines’ self-titled debut
album, named by iTunes as one of the best jazz albums of 2014, spent more than
a year on the Billboard Jazz Chart, debuting in the top 10 alongside Tony
Bennett and Lady Gaga. The accolades began pouring in for the band: Downbeat
called The Hot Sardines “one of the most delightfully energetic bands on New
York’s ‘hot’ music scene,” while The London Times praised their “crisp
musicianship” and “immaculate and witty showmanship,” declaring them “simply
phenomenal.”
“We found ourselves in the perfect
place at the perfect time,” says Evan. “As we explored this 100 year-old jazz,
we began to look at it as a journey forward, not so much as a look back. This
is music for today, not a museum piece.