This week, Ira spoke with Elizabeth Bougerol and Evan Palazzo from The Hot Sardines, performing in Myron’s at The Smith Center January 25-26. In this episode of “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” Elizabeth and Evan talk about how they first met as fellow musicians and then formed the group; why they didn’t set out to play professionally; their “go for it” moment; how they came up with the band’s name; the importance of jazz to the culture; the Great American Songbook and why musicians give their own interpretation of that music; the group’s golden mix of connection and timing; the importance of the “vibe”; how they view themselves as collaborators, not competitors; the audience coming together for a shared experience; and the enduring nature of the songs they play.
Over the last several years, the Hot Sardines have emerged from the Brooklyn neo-speakeasies where they got their start to make a global name for themselves playing hot jazz as it was in the era when live music was king, bridging generations and captivating 21st-century audiences. The group, led by frontwoman Elizabeth Bougerol and piano player Evan Palazzo, has been described as “potent and assured” (The New York Times) and “simply phenomenal” (The Times of London), notching more than a year on the Billboard Jazz chart and 25 million streams on Spotify (over 90 countries).
They’ve guested on Later… With Jools Holland, NPR’s Weekend Edition, CBS Saturday Morning, NPR’s Soundcheck, Live at WFUV, and appeared at major jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, Toronto, London, and Blue Note in Japan in addition to sold-out shows at more than 400 venues worldwide. They’ve performed their Boston Pops-debuted symphony show with orchestras throughout North America. Their three major albums have landed on best-of lists in the jazz press (Downbeat, JazzTimes) but also crossed over to the mainstream, with Rolling Stone noting that “100-year-old jazz standards get reborn” in the hands of the Hot Sardines.
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Talking with The Hot Sardines Full Transcript
Ira Sternberg: Take some Fats Waller, mix in some pop songs and elements of the Great American Songbook, and sprinkle with eccentricity, and you only get part of the story about my guests, Elizabeth Bougerol and Evan Palazzo. Their group, The Hot Sardines, is performing at Myron’s at the Smith Center this Thursday and Friday, January 25th and 26th, at 7:00 PM. For ticket information, go to thesmithcenter.com. For everything about The Hot Sardines, go to hotsardines.com, and you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Elizabeth and Evan, welcome to the show.
Evan Palazzo: Thank you! Hi, how are you doing, Ira?
Elizabeth Bougerol: Hi, thanks for having us!
Ira Sternberg: Good! So, I guess the most important question, which I’ve been thinking about for decades now, is what got the two of you together?
Elizabeth Bougerol: Decades, huh? Wow, we haven’t even known each other for decades!
Evan Palazzo: I know, I know—I go back in time mentally, so it just happens.
Elizabeth Bougerol: The short answer is: an accidental meeting at a jazz jam. That’s where it all started. We hit it off, started playing songs together, and eventually went to an open mic. We never expected to be here, talking with you decades later, but here we are—doing what we love, which is the best part of it all.
Ira Sternberg: Absolutely correct. Now, here’s where it gets tricky, and I should have asked this before we started, but I’m going to ask it now because I have two different dates for when you technically founded the group. One is 2011, and I think the other one was... I can’t quite remember the second date. I’ll let you correct it.
Elizabeth Bougerol: Well, you know how it goes with any project—you don’t always know when it’s really “happening” until you look back on it. Evan and I started playing together just for fun. It was just the two of us at first, and then a couple of other people joined. For a while, we went back to our regular jobs. But really, the “let’s go for it” moment—the official start of The Hot Sardines—was in 2011.
Evan Palazzo: Exactly. The other date you might have seen, 2007, is when we met.
Elizabeth Bougerol: Yeah, that’s right. We met in 2007, but The Hot Sardines didn’t come together until much later. Back then, it was more of a hobby. We were busking, doing open mics, and just finding other people who loved this style of jazz. It wasn’t until 2011 that we really said, “Okay, we’re a band now.”
Ira Sternberg: And you’ve been busy ever since! It’s incredible. You’ve had several albums, which we’ll talk about as well. But I have to ask: How did you come up with The Hot Sardines as your name, as opposed to, I don’t know, The Cold Mackerels or something like that?
Evan Palazzo: [Laughs] The Cold Mackerels! Man, that’s good. That’s gold!
Elizabeth Bougerol: Honestly, we needed a name for an open mic signup sheet. We really didn’t put much thought into it because we had no idea we’d be playing beyond that one night. We were inspired by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Seven and Django Reinhardt’s Hot Club of France. We knew we wanted “Hot” in the name. Then I saw a tin of sardines in hot sauce at the supermarket, called Evan, and said, “What about The Hot Sardines?” It was googleable, it was goofy—and now, it’s way too late to change it.
Ira Sternberg: So Evan didn’t say, “Why not The Cold Mackerels instead?”
Evan Palazzo: No, I loved it. It’s a happy accident. We just needed a name for that night, and now it’s hard to forget. Look, we’re talking about it decades later!
Elizabeth Bougerol: Yeah, it’s weird, but we’re a little weird too. We’re playing jazz that’s sometimes 100 years old—so, it fits.
Ira Sternberg: Speaking of jazz and the Great American Songbook, your albums have a mix of pop, jazz, and classic tunes. You both clearly have similar sensibilities. How did you know this partnership would work?
Elizabeth Bougerol: It was serendipity, for sure. We hit it off right away, but it wasn’t obvious at first that this would turn into a career. At some point, though, we realized this project had more momentum than anything else we were doing. I think we said, “Let’s commit to this for a year, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll walk away.”
Evan Palazzo: Yeah, we just wanted to give it a shot.
Elizabeth Bougerol: And here we are, over a decade later!
Ira Sternberg: Now comes the challenge of building a band. How did you go about finding musicians who shared your sensibilities and could bring the right vibe to The Hot Sardines?
Evan Palazzo: It took time. Over the years, we’ve played with many talented musicians, and each one has contributed in their own way. We look for people who love this music and who can communicate that love to an audience. But it’s not just about the music—it’s about being a decent human being too. Life on the road is tough, and you need people who can handle it.
Elizabeth Bougerol: Before we even started building the band, Evan and I spent a lot of time playing together. We had this residency in Pennsylvania, so we’d drive down, talk about the set list, and play for hours. That gave us a shorthand—a shared vibe that made it easier to choose musicians who fit.
Ira Sternberg: When you perform live, do you stick to the album material, or do you mix in other songs?
Evan Palazzo: Oh, we mix it up. Live performances and studio albums are two very different things. We love bringing in new material, and if we’re lucky enough to return to a venue, we make sure the shows aren’t identical. Sometimes, if there are two sets in one night, we’ll switch things up between them.
Elizabeth Bougerol: It keeps it fresh for us too! We love diving into our repertoire and rediscovering songs we haven’t played in a while.
Ira Sternberg: Evan, I read that you use hand signals during performances to cue the band.
Evan Palazzo: That’s right. It’s a nod to how jazz bands used to operate. The leader gives signals to call solos or change sections. It keeps things improvisational and dynamic.
Ira Sternberg: And just to clarify, no middle fingers are involved in these signals, right?
Evan Palazzo: Not on purpose! [Laughs]
Elizabeth Bougerol: Not for music, anyway—maybe for other things.
Evan Palazzo: But seriously, it’s all about collaboration. If someone makes a mistake, the rest of us cover for them. It’s about the group, not individual egos.
Ira Sternberg: That’s a great attitude. What do The Hot Sardines represent to each of you?
Evan Palazzo: For me, it’s about bringing people together. In a live show, all the differences—class, race, politics—they fade away. Music has a way of connecting people on a deep level.
Elizabeth Bougerol: I agree. For me, it’s also about honoring the enduring power of this music. Jazz was America’s pop music, and it’s some of the greatest music ever written. It’s a privilege to play it and to bring it to new audiences.
Ira Sternberg: When you’re performing, does the music transport you?
Elizabeth Bougerol: Absolutely. It’s a spiritual experience. The music burns away everything that doesn’t matter and connects you to something bigger.
Evan Palazzo: I agree. When we’re in the moment, it’s transformative. The music becomes fresh and alive, and we’re fully present with the audience.
Ira Sternberg: Well, that’s a great way to leave it. My guests have been Elizabeth Bougerol and Evan Palazzo from The Hot Sardines. They’re performing at Myron’s at the Smith Center this Thursday and Friday, January 25th and 26th, at 7:00 PM. For ticket information, go to thesmithcenter.com. For everything about The Hot Sardines, visit hotsardines.com. Elizabeth and Evan, thanks for being on the show.
Elizabeth Bougerol: Thank you so much!
Evan Palazzo: Thanks, Ira!
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