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The Hot Sardines
This painting is just a temporary filler Left to right: Joe McDonough, Evan “Sugar” Crane, Jason Prover, Alex Raderman, Miz Elizabeth, Evan “Bibs” Palazzo, “Fast Eddy” Francisco, Nick Myers.
Background information
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Jazz, Dixieland, Hot jazz, swing, stride, Ragtime, Chanson
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Decca/Universal
Members	Evan "Bibs" Palazzo  bandleader, pianist "Miz Elizabeth" Bougerol  frontwoman, vocalist,  washboard Edwin "Fast Eddy" Francisco  tap dancer, ukulele Evan "Sugar" Crane  upright bass, sousaphone Jason Prover - trumpet Alex Raderman - percussion Nick Myers - clarinet, saxophone Mike Sailors - cornet, trombone
Website	hotsardines.com

The Hot Sardines is an American jazz band formed in New York City in 2007 by actor and piano player Evan Palazzo and singer and writer Elizabeth Bougerol.

History

Origin

Evan, the bandleader and pianist, is a native New Yorker. He began playing piano by ear at age 3 and was beguiled by amateur musicianship his whole life. He had been a student at the humanist and progressive Waldorf school in New York City and went on to major in theater and musical theater at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He developed a passion for jazz in general and playing stride-jazz piano in particular. Back in his native New York, making a living as an actor in theatre and film production, he continued working on his music. In 2007 he released an album called Finding His Stride featuring his special brand of stride piano music with a ragtime flavor. For a while Evan was a member of actress/singer Lauren Ambrose's band, The Leisure Class. He appeared in scenes playing the piano in several films, My Brother in 2006, and What Happens in Vegas in 2008. His wife, actress Jennifer Weeden, knowing of Evan's desire to start a jazz band, placed an ad on Craigslist for him. Soon Evan, or “Bibs”, as he came to be known, was getting together with other musicians for informal jam sessions.

Elizabeth Bougerol, the band's frontwoman, vocalist and washboard player, was born in Paris and grew up in France, the Ivory Coast, and Canada. She had a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics. She became a writer with several bylines and a sometimes a web page creator. She wrote a quirky guide to New England restaurants and edited a travel website. But she found her work unfulfilling. Like Evan she nurtured a lifelong passion for music, especially the prohibition and depression era music of people like Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt and Billie Holiday. She haunted the jazz clubs in New York City asking bands for a chance to sing with them. Blessed with "a sweet and soulful voice" that brings to mind jazz singers "from another era" she nevertheless mostly got turned down because she had no professional background. Knowing that having an instrument might help her musical ambitions, she learned to play the washboard–jug band style–from watching YouTube videos. Like Evan she began placing ads on Craigslist looking for others who shared her love of early jazz.

The Hot Sardines began on a day in 2007 when Evan and Elizabeth answered the same Craigslist ad and met at a jazz jam above a noodle shop in Manhattan. Miz Elizabeth recalls, “when Bibs and I met, it was like an instant musical connection. We started trading stories of songs and singers we loved while growing up, naming our biggest influences and trying out tunes together.” They discovered a mutual love of Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Harlem stride style jazz legend Fats Waller. Miz Elizabeth adds, “It was like everyone else in the room just faded away while we geeked out.” Both of them were self-trained. They had both been kicking around the New York music scene for several years but neither of them really planned to become a professional musician. They began getting together to play music for their own enjoyment. Evan played the piano in stride style while Miz Elizabeth sang. A college friend of Evan's heard that they might be looking for a tap dancer for the band and put them in touch with Edwin “Fast Eddy” Francisco. Eddy stopped by Evan’s house while they were rehearsing and began to tap dance along to the music. Miz Elizabeth accompanied on a Dubl-Handi washboard that she had bought at Ace Hardware. The characteristic Sardines tap-and-washboard percussion section was born. An hour later the three of them left for their first open mic gig at a coffee shop on the last Q train stop in Queens. They had to list a name on the call sheet for their group to perform at the gig. They wanted "hot" in the name to indicate the kind of jazz they played. Inspired by a tin of spicy sardines that Elizabeth had found at a grocery earlier that day, they called their band The Hot Sardines.

Later history

Bibs, Miz Elizabeth and Fast Eddy formed the original core group. They played free gigs for friends and at small open-mic venues like the now defunct Banjo Jim's on the Lower East Side. Over the next couple of years the band attracted musicians from prestigious institutions like the Juilliard School and Berklee, accomplished professsionals who were not afraid to "get down and dirty" with early American jazz. The core group grew to include Jason Prover, Alex Raderman, Nick Myers, and Evan Crane (Mike Sailors did not join until 2014.) A turning point came in 2010 when the band performed for the first time at the speakeasy-themed Shanghai Mermaid in lower Manhattan. This appearance along with small venue gigs had earned them a loyal following.

second photo of Hot Sardines will go here.

Miz Elizabeth sings in both English and French and this fact led to one of their next big breaks. In June of 2011 Bibs got an email saying that someone was looking for a jazz band that performs songs in French for a last minute gig on the upcoming Bastille Day. They submitted a few video clips and got the job. It turned out that the gig was the Midsummer Night’s Swing at Lincoln Center. They performed before 6000 people and brought down the house. They went on to have 15 consecutive sold out shows when they appeared at Joe's Pub in 2012. High profile gigs started rolling in.

The Hot Sardines debut album, Shanghai'd, came out in July 2011. Their signature album, The Hot Sardines, was released on the Decca/Universal Music Classics label in October 2014. It contained both jazz classics and original Hot Sardines compositions and would reach number 12 on the Billboard charts in August of 2015.

The band would return many times to to Joe's Pub, the Shanghai Mermaid, and Midsummer Night’s Swing. They became virtual regulars at André Balazs’ posh Top of the Standard. In 2012 The Hot Sardines were invited to represent New York in front of 25,000 people at Festival d’Île de France in Paris. In 2014 they performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and played to sold out appearances at the Boston Pops which featured Wake Up In Paris written and sung without orchestral accompaniment by Miz Elizabeth in a performance that the Boston Globe called a "real stunner".

They made their London debut in the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall in November of 2014. They opened at Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room in December, 2015. They have been guests on the Turner Classic Movie Cruise every year since 2012.

Past or occasional members

The band has often included the talents of other musicians they have picked up along the way. Although eight people is typical, it might be said that the size of the band is not really fixed. Visiting members, frequent and otherwise have included the following:

• Tom Abbott: saxophone, clarinet
• Rob Adkins: bass
• Ricky Alexander: clarinet, saxophone
• Peter Anderson: saxophone, clarinet
• Will Anderson: saxophone, clarinet
• J. A. Butterfield: vocalist
• Rob Edwards: trombone
• Justin Hines: percussion
• Josh Holcomb: trombone, sousaphone
• Kevin Hseih: bass
• Pete Lanctot: violin, phonofiddle
• Britta Langsjoen: trombone
• Dan Lipsitz: clarinet, saxophone
• Kevin “The Professor” McDonald: drums
• Joe McDonough: trombone
• Drew Nugent: trumpet, cornet
• Bob "Pinky" Parins: guitar
• Sam "Fez" Raderman: banjo, guitar
• Jay Rattman: saxophone, clarinet
• Nick Russo: guitar

Style and influences

While the band writes and performs jazz-based material with an early 20th century flavor, they are influenced by a wide variety of genres and artists. They cite Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Django Reinhardt, Fred Astaire, Mamie Smith, Billie Holiday, the Andrews Sisters, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Peggy Lee, The Mills Brothers, and Ray Charles among others. When they played in Paris, the Festival d’Île de France described their style as. "A jubilant jazz... which recalls the glorious Renaissance Harlem cabarets." The Hot Sardines play “hot jazz” as it was "in the era when live music was king…with a little glamour, a little grit, and a lot of passion," or what some have called "a slice of between-the-wars Paris via New Orleans." They also cite more modern cultural influences. Says Bibs, “Nothing is sacred…everything from The Muppets to Bugs Bunny and from Harry Connick, Jr. to James Brown and Louis Prima has infiltrated our music and the way we interpret and perform songs.” Says Miz Elizabeth, “A full-on melting pot of musicians both iconic and obscure have influenced our style and song interpretation.” They even dabble a bit with South American beats. They play vintage jazz and yet manage to "captivate 21st century audiences." Conor Kelly writing in PopMatters said, "The Hot Sardines’ uniqueness lies in the fact that they get people both young and old dancing their asses off, by playing pop music that was written a century ago." Vanity Fair applauds their “unique repertoire, and a sound and style that are distinctly their own.”

Critical reactions

The Guardian called them "The charismatic front-runners of vintage jazz." A review in The London Times said their first live show in London was, "simply phenomenal, crisp musicianship going hand in hand with immaculate and witty showmanship." The international online magazine PopMatters calls them "consistently electrifying". CBS news said they were "at the forefront of the vintage jazz revival." Forbes Magazine calls them “one of the best jazz bands in NYC today.” When The Hot Sardines performed at the New York Hot Jazz Festival on May 3, 2015 Nate Chinen of the New York TImes called their performance “potent and assured.”

Discography

• The Hot Sardines (Decca/Universal Music Classics, 2014)
• Live at Joe's Pub (June 2014) These tracks were recorded live at one of our absolutely favorite places to play in New York City, Joe's Pub, on January 9, 2013
• Sardine 3: Frolicking at the Playground (February 2014, Eleven Records) Recorded & mixed at The Music Playground
• The Hot Sardines' Lowdown Little Christmas Record - (December 2013, Eleven Records)
• Comes Love (December 2013, Eleven Records)
• Shanghai'd (July 2011) Shanghai'd is the debut album by the Hot Sardines

External links

• official website
• official video

Category:American jazz ensembles Category:Musical groups from New York City Category:Musical groups established in 2007 Category:Decca Records artists