Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Performing Arts Center will present the Hot Sardines Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall.
The Sardine sound-wartime Paris meets New Orleans-is steeped in hot jazz, stride piano and the kind of music Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller used to play.
The Hot Sardines were born when a Parisian singer, “Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol, met a stride piano player, Evan “Bibs” Palazzo, at a Manhattan jam session they found on Craigslist. The two discovered a mutual love for songs from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s that no one plays anymore. Or if they play them, “they handle them with kid gloves, like museum pieces,” said Palazzo. “This music isn’t historical artifact. It’s a living, breathing, always-evolving thing.”
The Hot Sardines performed their first gig at a coffee shop on the last Q train stop in Queens. In a short time, they were selling out New York’s famed Joe’s Pub and headlining at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing.
The ensemble features a blustery brass lineup and a rhythm section led by stride-piano virtuoso and bandleader Palazzo. Front woman Bougerol, who writes songs in both French and English, adds a Parisian flavor to the performances. The band also includes a tap dancer whose feet count as two members of the rhythm section.
Popmatters calls the Hot Sardines experience “unforgettably wild” and “consistently electrifying.”
Tickets for the concert are $30-$35 with discounts for UGA students and can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling the box office at 706-542-4400 or toll free at 888-289-8497.