Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative PCR COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of the event will be required to attend this performance. In addition, there is a mask requirement inside GPAC.
Saturday, October 23
Health Check: 6:30 PM
Doors Open: 7:30 PM
Concert Starts: 8:00 PM
“One of the best jazz bands in NY today.” — Forbes
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 NYC 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.
Quality is timeless. Just ask the Hot Sardines.
In the talented hands of the New York-based ensemble, music first made famous decades ago comes alive through 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 were headlining 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 them “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.”
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. “It’s a really cool time to be making music,” Elizabeth says. “Especially if you’re making music that started its life 100 years ago.”
