Local Jazz

To get your jazz event posted here, please email your info to tucsonjazzsociety@gmail.com.

Jan
11
Thu
Hypnotic Brass @ Rialto Theatre
Jan 11 @ 7:30 pm

Thursday, Jan. 11, Hypnotic Brass Rialto Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

HYPNOTIC BRASS is a seven-piece, Chicago-based brass ensemble consisting of the sons of the jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran of Earth, Wind and Fire fame. Together, they have toured throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa & South America playing with everyone from Prince, Mos Def, Mick Jones (The Clash) and Damon Albam (Blur, Gorillaz). They’ve performed Coachella, WOMAD AU, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall. Their song “War” was featured in the blockbuster hit movie, The Hunger Games.  And now, for the first time, they’re touring the US. Don’t miss the “Bad Boys of Jazz” as they bring their distinctive blend of traditional jazz, hip hop, reggae & rock. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble was born in the south side of Chicago in the early 1990s as the Phil Cohran Youth Ensemble. Dissolving due to the hardships of growing up, the band reformed in 1999 as Hypnotic Brass and has since been blowing the minds of its audiences all around the world.

UA-Presents-131x140Video: City Living
Website: www.hypnoticbrassensemble.com

Presented by UA Presents

Jan
12
Fri
The Hot Sardines @ Fox Tucson Theatre
Jan 12 @ 7:30 pm

Friday, Jan. 12, The Hot Sardines Fox Tucson Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

THE HOT SARDINES, fueled by the belief that classic jazz feeds the heart and soul, 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 and Montreal jazz festivals, 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. In the talented hands of the New York-based ensemble, music first made famous decades ago comes alive through their 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, their new album, 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 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.

Video: Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
Website: hotsardines.com

ROBBIE LEE, PIANIST, was born and raised in Tucson, began playing alto saxophone at age 12, later switching to piano. Soon after, he joined the Tucson Jazz Institute, a community music program dedicated to giving students opportunities to play and develop meaningful relationships through music. With TJI he was given a firm grounding in the traditional forms of jazz from traditional to post-bop and was encouraged to develop his own voice and keep an open mind. By age 14, Robbie had begun performing at various venues on a weekly basis. In both 2010 and 2014 he was given opportunities to tour and play at numerous jazz festivals in Europe with TJI including Jazz a Vienne and the Umbria and Montreux jazz festival. Throughout high school, Lee was given awards for performance and composition by YoungArts, DownBeat, The Next Generation Jazz Festival and the Essentially Ellington Competition. These awards include Outstanding Tripler and the Ella Fitzgerald outstanding soloist award presented by Wynton Marsalis at the Essentially Ellington Festival. In 2015 Downbeat magazine awarded him Outstanding Composition for Large Ensemble as part of the 38th Student Music Awards. He has had the honor of playing with Brice Winston, Charles McPherson, Ray Drummond, Candido Camero, and Jimmy Heath. Robbie currently studies at the Manhattan School of Music, in his final year of the undergraduate program.

Jan
13
Sat
Arturo Sandoval and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra @ TCC Music Hall
Jan 13 @ 7:30 pm

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 and Sunday Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.  Arturo Sandoval and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, TCC Music Hall

ARTURO SANDOVAL, TRUMPETER, was born in Artemisa, Cuba, in 1949.  A protégé of Dizzy Gillespie, he began studying classical trumpet at the age of 12 and has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn. Arturo has been awarded ten Grammys, and been nominated 19 times; he has also received six Billboard Awards, an Emmy Award and the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was a founding member of the Grammy award-winning group Irakere, which Arturo left in 1981 to form his own band, with which he has garnered enthusiastic praise all over the world. Arturo is also a renowned classical musician, pianist and composer. He has performed with the foremost orchestras domestically and abroad, composed his own “Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra,” and recorded John Williams’ Trumpet Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. Arturo’s versatility can be heard on recordings with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Woody Shaw, Michel Legrand, Josh Groban, Bill Conti and Stan Getz, to Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Rod Stewart and Alicia Keys, amongst many others. He has performed with the Boston Pops, and in the Super Bowl with Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle.

TSO-Logo-90x140Video: Newport Jazz Festival
Website: arturosandoval.com

Trumpeter Matt Holman Group SOLD OUT! @ Club Congress
Jan 13 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Trumpeter Matt Holman Group with Ben Monder, guitar; Matt Clohesy,bass; Mark Ferber, drums, Club Congress

MATT HOLMAN, TRUMPETER, hailed by the New York Times as a “conscientious” and “perceptive young trumpeter,” and by the great Fred Hersch as “a creative and thoughtful improviser with a world-class sound,” trumpeter Matt Holman has distinguished himself as a composer, conductor, bandleader and top-tier soloist in many of the leading jazz ensembles. Along with his adventurous chamber-jazz recordings, Holman has performed and/or recorded with Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Hersch’s Leaves of Grass, Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra, New York Voice and more. Matt grew up in Tucson and went to Canyon Del Oro High School and received a scholarship award from the Tucson Jazz Society. Matt has composed and arranged works for Stefon Harris, Jane Monheit, Marvin Stamm and university ensembles worldwide. Matt’s 2013 debut When Flooded, an ambitious and evocative project with his five-piece Diversion Ensemble, was awarded four stars by Down Beat. His 2017 follow-up, The Tenth Muse, finds contemporary relevance in the ancient Greek love poetry of Sappho. Matt has earned numerous awards including the International Trumpet Guild’s Jazz Improvisation Competition, the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, and the BMI Foundation’s 13th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize/Manny Albam Commission. An emerging scholar, he received the Institute of Jazz Studies’ Morroe Berger-Benny Carter Jazz Research Fellowship to research Jimmy Giuffre. Holman served as Artistic Director of New York Youth Symphony Jazz for six seasons and teaches as adjunct faculty at Manhattan School of Music and Hunter College.

Video: www.mattholman.com/video
Website: www.mattholman.com

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Trumpeter Matt Holman Group SOLD OUT! @ Club Congress
Jan 13 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Trumpeter Matt Holman Group with Ben Monder, guitar; Matt Clohesy,bass; Mark Ferber, drums, Club Congress

MATT HOLMAN, TRUMPETER, hailed by the New York Times as a “conscientious” and “perceptive young trumpeter,” and by the great Fred Hersch as “a creative and thoughtful improviser with a world-class sound,” trumpeter Matt Holman has distinguished himself as a composer, conductor, bandleader and top-tier soloist in many of the leading jazz ensembles. Along with his adventurous chamber-jazz recordings, Holman has performed and/or recorded with Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Hersch’s Leaves of Grass, Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra, New York Voice and more. Matt grew up in Tucson and went to Canyon Del Oro High School and received a scholarship award from the Tucson Jazz Society. Matt has composed and arranged works for Stefon Harris, Jane Monheit, Marvin Stamm and university ensembles worldwide. Matt’s 2013 debut When Flooded, an ambitious and evocative project with his five-piece Diversion Ensemble, was awarded four stars by Down Beat. His 2017 follow-up, The Tenth Muse, finds contemporary relevance in the ancient Greek love poetry of Sappho. Matt has earned numerous awards including the International Trumpet Guild’s Jazz Improvisation Competition, the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, and the BMI Foundation’s 13th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize/Manny Albam Commission. An emerging scholar, he received the Institute of Jazz Studies’ Morroe Berger-Benny Carter Jazz Research Fellowship to research Jimmy Giuffre. Holman served as Artistic Director of New York Youth Symphony Jazz for six seasons and teaches as adjunct faculty at Manhattan School of Music and Hunter College.

Video: www.mattholman.com/video
Website: www.mattholman.com

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Trumpeter Matt Holman Group SOLD OUT! @ Club Congress
Jan 13 @ 9:30 pm – 11:00 pm

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Trumpeter Matt Holman Group with Ben Monder, guitar; Matt Clohesy,bass; Mark Ferber, drums, Club Congress

MATT HOLMAN, TRUMPETER, hailed by the New York Times as a “conscientious” and “perceptive young trumpeter,” and by the great Fred Hersch as “a creative and thoughtful improviser with a world-class sound,” trumpeter Matt Holman has distinguished himself as a composer, conductor, bandleader and top-tier soloist in many of the leading jazz ensembles. Along with his adventurous chamber-jazz recordings, Holman has performed and/or recorded with Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Hersch’s Leaves of Grass, Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra, New York Voice and more. Matt grew up in Tucson and went to Canyon Del Oro High School and received a scholarship award from the Tucson Jazz Society. Matt has composed and arranged works for Stefon Harris, Jane Monheit, Marvin Stamm and university ensembles worldwide. Matt’s 2013 debut When Flooded, an ambitious and evocative project with his five-piece Diversion Ensemble, was awarded four stars by Down Beat. His 2017 follow-up, The Tenth Muse, finds contemporary relevance in the ancient Greek love poetry of Sappho. Matt has earned numerous awards including the International Trumpet Guild’s Jazz Improvisation Competition, the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, and the BMI Foundation’s 13th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize/Manny Albam Commission. An emerging scholar, he received the Institute of Jazz Studies’ Morroe Berger-Benny Carter Jazz Research Fellowship to research Jimmy Giuffre. Holman served as Artistic Director of New York Youth Symphony Jazz for six seasons and teaches as adjunct faculty at Manhattan School of Music and Hunter College.

Video: www.mattholman.com/video
Website: www.mattholman.com

Jan
14
Sun
Arturo Sandoval and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra @ TCC Music Hall
Jan 14 @ 2:00 pm

Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 and Sunday Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.  Arturo Sandoval and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, TCC Music Hall

ARTURO SANDOVAL, TRUMPETER, was born in Artemisa, Cuba, in 1949.  A protégé of Dizzy Gillespie, he began studying classical trumpet at the age of 12 and has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn. Arturo has been awarded ten Grammys, and been nominated 19 times; he has also received six Billboard Awards, an Emmy Award and the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was a founding member of the Grammy award-winning group Irakere, which Arturo left in 1981 to form his own band, with which he has garnered enthusiastic praise all over the world. Arturo is also a renowned classical musician, pianist and composer. He has performed with the foremost orchestras domestically and abroad, composed his own “Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra,” and recorded John Williams’ Trumpet Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. Arturo’s versatility can be heard on recordings with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Woody Shaw, Michel Legrand, Josh Groban, Bill Conti and Stan Getz, to Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Rod Stewart and Alicia Keys, amongst many others. He has performed with the Boston Pops, and in the Super Bowl with Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle.

TSO-Logo-90x140Video: Newport Jazz Festival
Website: arturosandoval.com

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Grammy-winning percussionist and vocalist, Sheila E. SOLD OUT! @ Rialto Theatre
Jan 14 @ 7:30 pm

SHEILA E., PERCUSSIONIST/SINGER, was born Sheila Cecelia Escovedo in Oakland Calif.. Sheila’s youth testifies to her love of music, from performing with her dad, percussionist Pete Escovedo, at the age of 5, to playing in a local band during high school, to touring with her uncle Coke Escovedo’s group Azteca in Colombia as a teen. Growing up, Sheila was introduced to all types of sound by her musical family members and family friends (her godfather was Latin star Tito Puente). Early in her career, Sheila met Prince, and after singing on his hit “Erotic City,” the two worked together to produce her first album. The title track on The Glamorous Life, made the U.S. Top 10, and the entire album, which combined Latin, jazz, R&B, pop and rock, reached number 28 on the U.S. Billboard 200. A musical powerhouse, Sheila has worked with some of the most influential acts of the past five decades: Ringo Starr, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Gloria Estefan and more. She’s recorded seven solo albums, acted in several films and pursued philanthropic projects that are near to her heart.

Videos: www.sheilae.com/videos
Website: www.sheilae.com

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Jan
17
Wed
Saxophonist Lew Tabackin Trio @ Scottish Rite Temple
Jan 17 @ 7:30 pm

Wednesday, Jan. 17 Saxophonist Lew Tabackin Trio, Scottish Rite Temple, 7:30 p.m.

LEW TABACKIN, FLUTIST AND TENOR SAXOPHONIST, is an artist of astonishing vision. His electrifying flute playing is at once virtuosic, primordial, cross-cultural, and passionate. His distinctive tenor sax style includes the use of wide intervals, abrupt changes of mood and tempo, and purposeful fervor, all in the service of showing the full range of possibilities of his instrument – melodically, rhythmically, and dynamically. Born in Philadelphia, he moved to New York City after his Army service in 1965. A few years later he married Toshiko Akiyoshi and moved to Los Angeles, where they formed the award-winning big band known as the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. In 1982 they returned to NYC, and Since then he has solidified his position as a major tenor saxophone and flute artist, both in live concerts and on recordings. In 1990 Lew released his first disc for Concord, Desert Lady, featuring Hank Jones, followed by the acclaimed I’ll Be Seeing You. Lew has also been associated with George Wein’s Newport All-Star Band, the New York Jazz Giants, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. He continues to tour the world as a soloist, playing clubs and jazz festivals with his own groups. He is joined by Boris Koslov on bass and Mark Taylor, drums.

Video: Chasin’ After Love
Website: www.lewtabackin.com

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Jan
19
Fri
The Mingus Dynasty “Tijuana Moods” and the Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band @ Fox Theatre
Jan 19 @ 7:30 pm

Friday, Jan. 19  The Mingus Dynasty “Tijuana Moods” and the Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band; Fox Theatre, 7:30 p.m.


THE MINGUS DYNASTY, a nimble and expert ensemble, was the first band Sue Mingus organized after her husband Charles Mingus’ death in 1979. Although big bands like the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey bands had continued to perform after their leader passed on, a similar legacy never existed for smaller ensembles. Because Mingus always said he was first and foremost a composer, and because he left behind over 300 compositions that deserved to be played, a band carrying on his music became a natural, if unanticipated, mission. For the sake of authenticity, the first Dynasty bands were expected to include only musicians who had actually performed with Mingus—except for the bass player of course. Today, nearly 40 years later, the rich legacy of Mingus music ignites the bandstand while new generations of musicians—many of them not even alive during the composer’s lifetime—add their individual voices and continue to interpret and build on his compositions. The band comprises Abraham Burton, tenor saxophone; Alex Sipiagin, trumpet; Ku-umba Frank Lacy, trombone; Helen Sung, piano; Boris Kozlov, bass and Donald Edwards, drums.

Website: mingusmingusmingus.com

Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band, directed by Doug Tidaback, comprises high school musicians from southern Arizona who study at this award-winning community music school. This big band (one of six at the TJI), loved for their swinging, diverse and energetic big band sounds, was the #1 High School Big Band winner two years in a row (2013 and 2014) and in 2017 of the prestigious national Jazz at Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington Competition presided over by Wynton Marsalis. They were in the top three in 2015 and 2016. Other awards include first place in the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival earning them a spot to perform at the 2012 festival and they were named the Best Community Jazz Band in the 35th Annual Student Music Awards in DownBeat magazine in 2012 and 2013. Their alumni attend some of the most prestigious schools in the nation (many on scholarship) including Julliard, the Manhattan School of Music, The New England Conservatory, Princeton, USC and Swarthmore and have gone on to major careers in jazz music.

Website: www.tucsonjazzinstitute.com

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Jan
20
Sat
Spyro Gyra SOLD OUT! @ Rialto Theatre
Jan 20 @ 7:30 pm

Saturday, Jan. 20 Spyro Gyra, Rialto Theatre, 7:30 p.m. SOLD OUT!

SPYRO GYRA is an unlikely story of a group with humble beginnings in Buffalo, NY who has continued to reach an international audience over 40 years, resulting in sales of over 10 million albums and having played over 5,000 shows on six continents. They have accomplished this due to a forward looking approach combined with the work ethic of an underdog, always challenging themselves to do something new while never resting on past success. It has proven to be a recipe for longevity for this jazz group while music has gone in and out of styles in ever shorter cycles.  Spyro Gyra are contemporary jazz icons who observed their 40th year as a band in 2014 with shows that showcased their breakthrough Morning Dance album. After that year of looking back, they decided to spend 2015 concentrating on their more recent material, playing many songs from their post 2000 releases. The audience reaction was so positive to their recent material that bandleader Jay Beckenstein decided that their albums from that period deserved a little more focus. So, in order to spotlight this innovative and productive period, Spyro Gyra released The Best Of The Heads Up Years in 2016. They released their last, their 30th, album of new material The Rhinebeck Sessions in 2013, which JazzTimes called “inspired.” Travis Rogers of the Jazz Journalists Association picked it for Jazz Album Of The Year. Something Else Reviews called it “Their finest album since their early 80s heyday” and made it a TopTwenty pick for the year. George Harris of the Jazz Weekly enthused, “I gotta tell ya, these guys still sound GREAT.” “My hope is that our music has the same effect on the audience that it does on me,” says group leader Jay Beckenstein. “I’ve always felt that music, and particularly instrumental music, has this non-literal quality that lets people travel to a place where there are no words. Whether it’s touching their emotions or connecting them to something that reminds them of something much bigger than themselves, there’s this beauty in music that’s not connected to sentences. It’s very transportive. I would hope that when people hear our music or come to see us, they’re able to share that with us.”

Video: Live at Java Jazz Festival 2013
Website: www.spyrogyra.com

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Jan
21
Sun
Jazz Brunch with Jeff Haskell, Jason Carder and Brice Winston @ Johnny Gibson's
Jan 21 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Sunday, Jan. 21 Johnny Gibsons Jazz Brunch with Jeff Haskell, Jason Carder and Brice Winston 10 a.m.-2 p.m. No Cover charge.

Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and bassist/vocalist Jay Leonhardt SOLD OUT! @ Club Congress
Jan 21 @ 7:30 pm

Sunday, Jan. 21 Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and bassist/vocalist Jay Leonhardt, Club Congress, 7:30 p.m. SOLD OUT!

Wycliffe Gordon, trombonist, was born a musician’s son in Waynesboro, Georgia. He began playing music at age 12, drawn early to jazz by an extensive record collection bequeathed to his family. Wycliffe hard-swinging, straight-ahead style earned him Downbeat’s Critics Choice Award for Best Trombone (2016, 2012-2014), as well as their Rising Star Award for Tuba (2014). Named Trombonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association nine times since 2001, Wycliffe tours regularly as a soloist and leads the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet. He has recorded 20 solo albums and eight co-leader albums including Hello Pops, A Tribute to Louis Armstrong and Dreams of New Orleans. Wycliffe has been featured on the Kennedy Center Jazz series and his work has been celebrated extensively via radio, television and film, including Wycliffe’s appearance as a soloist in Ken Burns’ documentary, Jazz. A composer and arranger, Wycliffe’s work is frequently commissioned: his arrangement of NPR’s All Things Considered theme is heard daily worldwide and he received the ASCAP Plus Award in 2016 and 2015 for his contributions as a composer. He has authored three educational books and is a dedicated instructor, having served as a resident at numerous institutions, and, formerly, as a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music. 

Video: Jazz in Marciac 2009
Website: wycliffegordon.com

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Jay Leonhart, bassist and vocalist, has been recognized as a very accomplished bass player for a long time now. He has been named the Outstanding Bassist in the Recording Industry three times and is always mentioned when the discussion turns to the outstanding. At age 13, while playing banjo with his brother in a Dixieland band in Baltimore, Jay watched and listened to the bass player and knew that the bass was the instrument he would play forever. Since that time Jay has been privileged to play with the likes of Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Buddy Rich, Jim Hall, Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Marian McPartland, Kenny Barron, Sting, James Taylor, Papa Joe Jones, Roy Eldridge, Jim Hall, Louie Bellson, Dick Hyman, Luciano Pavarotti and many more. Over th e years, Jay Leonhart has been writing and singing his own very individualistic songs about his life as a bass player. He now performs his music worldwide to very receptive audiences.  Jay now appears primarily with his trio, which plays regularly at Birdland in New York, when not gainfully employed elsewhere.

Video: It’s Impossible To Sing and Play The Bass
Website: www.jayleonhart.com

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Dec
31
Mon
Hot Sardines – French Fries and Champagne @ Fox Tucson Theatre
Dec 31 @ 8:30 pm
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 their 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 “Bibs” Palazzo and lead singer “Miz 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 headlined Midsummer Night Swing at New York’s Lincoln Center.
 
The name is also a reflection of the times, as lines blur between high and low culture, luxury and comfort. “The old rules – that champagne goes with caviar, or couture and takeout don’t mix – are out the window. You see it everywhere… fashion, travel, food,” says Elizabeth. “Just be yourself and do what you like,” adds Evan. “Which is really how the Sardines approach everything we do.”   The title track is a reminder that when the going gets tough, the tough go for comfort food and bubbly.  About the pair’s original song, Elizabeth says, “I wanted to write something that could be taken as the end of a love affair, but with a second layer that expressed what we’re all feeling,” she says. “These are uncertain times. When everything’s hopeless, throw a party.”    It’s one of several originals on the album, including Evan’s instrumental homage to his old neighborhood, “Gramercy Sunset,” and  “Here You Are Again,” a woozy, country-leaning track written by Elizabeth about “that person in your life who you can’t seem to break up with who keeps popping up like a bad penny,” she says. “The most fun part of the tune is I got to play a little bit of Hammond organ,” Evan says. “It was sitting there in the corner of the studio and it called me over.”
 
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.”