The Hot Sardines

Fueled by the belief that classic jazz feeds the heart and soul, the Hot Sardines are on a mission to prove that joyful music brings people together in a disconnected world.

This sophisticated New York-based ensemble brings timeless classics to life with brassy horn arrangements, rollicking piano melodies, rich vocals, and the enchanting final touch — an elegant, spellbinding tap dancer. 

In the last two years, the Sardines have been featured at the Newport and Montreal jazz festivals, sold out New York City venues from Joe’s Pub to Bowery Ballroom, and performed more than 150 tour dates from Chicago to London. From Parisian chansons to sly Cole Porter lyrics, the band effortlessly channels New York speakeasies, Parisian cabarets, and New Orleans jazz halls.

About the Band

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.  

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. For its 2016 album, French Fries & Champagne, the jazz collective broadened its already impressive palette, combining covers and originals.

People Will Say We’re in Love from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! gets reinvented as a tart tango. Jazz standard Comes Love starts as a minuet before vocalist Bougerol, singing in her native French, conjures up spirits of 1930s Paris. The Hot Sardines even upend Robert Palmer’s 1985 classic Addicted To Love with Bougerol’s cool vocals and hot horn arrangements. The album title celebrates the duality of the Hot Sardines, reflecting both their glamorous and gritty sides. 

“When we started out as a band, we played illegal parties in these secret spots in Brooklyn. Down and dirty, and that was one of the reasons we loved it,” Bougerol said. “Cut to a few years later and we were invited to play with the Boston Pops. We came up with the idea of half of the album being lushed out with strings, and on the other half, going back to our roots.”

Last year, the band released 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, Bougerol spent time rediscovering and recording early French music, including the 1938 gypsy-jazz breezer J’attendrai (Dino Olivieri and 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 Hot Sardines played more than 100 shows last year, taking their act from their familiar confines of New York across the country. And, to no one’s surprise but their own, they were greeted by music lovers everywhere. In the hot jazz movement, the Hot Sardines stand apart for the innovation, verve and sheer joy they bring to music, both new and old. 

This is the Hot Sardines' first performance at the center.

Photos by Shervin Lainez