Meet Me at the Bottom of the Bottle
The Hot Sardines
From the new album C'EST LA VIE and featured in the Miramax release CONFESS, FLETCH
BANNED JAZZ
How America’s Music Changed the World
Nearly 100 years ago, jazz—that most American art form, with its joyous message of cultural, racial, and sexual freedom—was viewed by many as the devil’s music, a force that would bring down civilization.
The new show from powerhouse jazz revivalists and storytellers the Hot Sardines recounts how forces in the U.S. and Europe tried (and failed) to suppress the music of Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Benny Goodman and more, weaving vivid historical vignettes—of dancehall raids, black-market recordings, and, in Nazi Germany, laws that made playing (or even hearing) jazz a punishable offense—into an electrifying live-music experience.
Banned Jazz—created for Carnegie Hall's Fall of the Weimar Republic Festival in spring 2024, selling out within hours—celebrates the unifying power of music and joy as an act of resistance, and will resonate with anyone reading the headlines today. THS co-founder and frontwoman Elizabeth Bougerol’s rallying cry “These are times that need live music” has never felt truer.
SHOWS: ELIZABETH BOUGEROL
About
THE HOT SARDINES
TOUR CARNEGIE HALL-DEBUTED BANNED JAZZ , READY SEVENTH ALBUM
Credit: Shervin Lainez
Emerging a decade ago from the underground parties of Brooklyn to touring worldwide and recording a string of albums that’s racked up more than 60 million streams, the Hot Sardines’ own “potent and assured” (The New York Times), “simply phenomenal” (The Times, London) brand of reinvigorated classic jazz landed them at the center of a whirlwind.
In 2024, cofounders Elizabeth Bougerol (vocals) and Evan Palazzo (piano) debuted the Sardines' new project at Carnegie Hall, selling out within hours. Banned Jazz is a celebration of joy as an act of resistance and the unifying power of music, recounting how political forces in the U.S. and Europe tried (and failed) to suppress the music of Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Benny Goodman and more, with its messages of cultural, racial, and sexual freedom. Frontwoman and powerhouse storyteller Bougerol weaves vivid historical vignettes — of dancehall raids, black-market recordings, and Nazi-era laws that made playing (or even hearing) jazz a punishable offense — into an electrifying live-music experience. Her rallying cry “These are times that need live music” has never felt truer.
The Sardines' latest recording is C’est La Vie, a bilingual affair of vintage jazz standards and originals. The title track, a Bossa nova original in French, is a timely ode to fully living each moment, even when you don’t know what the next will bring. A gospel-inflected “Moon River” came about when Elizabeth and Evan were tapped by director Greg Mottola to contribute music to the Miramax release Confess, Fletch, starring Jon Hamm and John Slattery (in which the band also makes an appearance); originals created for the project include the original “Adieu l’amour,” a foray into the sounds of film noir. And — recorded on the road while she was pregnant with her son — Elizabeth sings “La Vie en Rose” as a spare, hushed lullaby in duet with Bob Parins.
The Hot Sardines continue to tour, taking Banned Jazz on the road starting in 2025, which will also see the release of their seventh album.
Ticket information
www.HotSardines.com
Contact
Gwen Eyster
gwen@hotsardines.com
Contact
Worldwide Booking
International Music Network (IMN)
Eastern US – Jeanna Disney, jeanna@imnworld.com
Midwest US – Rory Trainor, rory@imnworld.com
Western US & Canada – Alycia Mack, alycia@imnworld.com
International – Matt McCluskey, m.mccluskey@
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