Striding In To Jazz

Hot Sardines find momentum in music

The story of the Hot Sardines is a lot like the classic line about a box of chocolates: "You never know what you're going to get." And that applies as much to the musicians as to the audience.

The New York-based band plays "trad jazz" -- the kind that would have been played by icons like Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk -- fusing musical influences from New York, Paris and New Orleans that were nurtured from the Prohibition era through the Great Depression, World War II and beyond, frontwoman "Miz Elizabeth" describes.

FAQ

The Hot Sardines

WHEN — 7:30 p.m. Thursday

WHERE — Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville

COST — $10-$25

INFO — 443-5600

It all started with a Parisian-born writer -- Elizabeth Bougerol -- and a New York City actor, Evan Palazzo, and a jam session above a noodle shop in Manhattan.

"We hit it off right away," says Palazzo of his meeting with Bougerol. "We knew the same songs, had the same ideas about music."

What they didn't have was a "grand plan," Palazzo admits. "It was a hobby at first."

Palazzo was a successful New York City actor, working on TV shows like "Law and Order," on stage and in film. But he'd always had a passion for traditional jazz, and the more the Hot Sardines played, the more the band took over.

"Our first gigs were at bars for tips, in the subway for tips -- a good band in the subway can make some money, I'll tell you," he says. "It was the furthest thing from my mind that we could make a living!

"We did have the blessing of a burgeoning jazz scene here in New York," he adds, explaining that in the city, "online speakeasys" reveal the location of a party in a warehouse or industrial space. It's password-required, like a Prohibition nightclub.

"They don't pay anything, but there's a lot of people who go to them," Palazzo says, and word about the Hot Sardines got around. When a spot opened suddenly at the Jazz at Lincoln Center: Midsummer Night Swing in 2012, the band got the call to perform. It took about a year afterward, but finally a concert tour was booked, then a CD was recorded.

"We went backwards," Palazzo says with a laugh. "We got the tour, then the record deal."

The self-titled debut album was released Oct. 7 last year, and the Thursday 10x10 performance at the Walton Arts Center is part of the tour now supporting it.

Palazzo hopes the fact that it's an arts center won't deter fans from doing what comes naturally.

"We do everything we can to infect them with the notion you don't have to be quiet and you don't have to sit still."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

[email protected]

NAN What's Up on 01/30/2015

Upcoming Events