SWING, SYMPHONIES AND CHAMPAGNE
The Hot Sardines bring their jazz collective to Vancouver
After meeting and then bonding over their love of vintage, Prohibition-era jazz, pianist Evan Palazzo and vocalist “Miz Elizabeth” Bougeroi formed The Hot Sardines.
A decade later, the two head a collective of eight, including a horn section and tap-dancer. The band regularly plays their hot jazz for club crowds and theatre audiences, sometimes with a symphony, as at their upcoming Vancouver debut.
Live and on record, including 2016’s French Fries + Champagne (which includes When I Get Low I Get High, a duet between Bougeroi and actor Alan Cumming), the band mixes originals, jazz standards and unorthodox covers.
We talked to Palazzo about symphonies, Fred Astaire, and Addicted to Love.
Q What is the rehearsal process like with an orchestra?
A Symphonies are such a welloiled machine in terms of how their conductor rehearses them.
They’ve received the scores in advance, and we know the songs. So we will have a scheduled rehearsal the day before the performance where we run everything with the orchestra, iron out all the fun little pieces that can be confusing when you’re playing jazz with that many people, with the improvisational aspect of it as well. It all seems to come out pretty smoothly, fingers crossed.
Q You released French Fries + Champagne two years ago. Will you be playing new material?
A Yes. We actually recorded our new album last Saturday (April 14) live in Toronto at Koerner Hall. We will play a selection from that album if we play a few numbers on our own, as well as songs from French Fries + Champagne. A lot of these arrangements come from the album that preceded it (The Hot Sardines, 2014), which has one of our bestknown songs, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (Yiddish for “To Me, You Are Beautiful” made famous by the Andrews Sisters in 1937).
Q Your eight-piece band includes a tap-dancer. How did that happen?
A Elizabeth and I bonded over many things, including Fred Astaire — his musicianship as well his amazing dancing. We just thought, Wouldn’t it be nice to find and include someone who could do this, someone who is a good enough tap-dancer that they could improvise like a jazz musician. It’s a visual depiction of the music, which is great for a live show.
Q Whose idea was it to cover Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love?
A We both love that song. I think Elizabeth said she would like to sing it. But we’ve always talked about unorthodox songs that could swing, and that was one we’d talked about years ago. So when we did French Fries + Champagne we thought, Let’s attack it. Let’s give it a Count Basie swing and a bit of a shuffle feel.
Q Will the Hot Sardines ever do an album of all-’80s cover songs?
A Never rule anything out. If it’s a good song, I’m open to doing it.
Q You could do a Hot Sardines take on so many different musical genres.
A It’s such a rich landscape of music that I think needs to be presented, especially to the younger generations. They’re not seeking it out, but when they hear it they’re hooked. That’s why when we go to a town we love to jam in a bar, someplace where people who can’t afford a $40 or $50 ticket can go.
Q Who can afford the french fries but not the Champagne.
A The music is the Champagne.
THE HOT SARDINES WITH VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA When: April 25 Where: Orpheum Theatre Tickets and info:
$75/$65/$50 at coastaljazz.ca