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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