[Dixielandjazz] The Hot Sardines reviewed -- Buffalo News, November 24, 2014

[Robert Ringwald]

The Hot Sardines: The Hot Sardines (Decca)
by Mary Kunz Goldman
Buffalo News, November 24, 2014
The Hot Sardines is a New York City outfit that play a lot of Fats Waller and other
music from that era. The singer, “Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol, also plays washboard and
tambourine, and she has a voice that’s really fun. It’s not studied or overworked,
just light and amusing, with a lot of theater, whether she’s singing a rapid “Bei
Mir Bist Du Schoen” or a lazy blues backed up by growling trumpet. Joining Miz Elizabeth
on this self-titled disc are seven guys, adept on various instruments that evoke
the spirit of the 1920s and ‘30s -- not just trumpet, but sleepy violin, trombone,
bass and -- love it -- Sousaphone. Evan “Bibs” Palazzo anchors them with his light
honky-tonk jazz piano. Songs include “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby,”
with a violin solo, the vaudeville “Your Feet’s Too Big” and “Honeysuckle Rose.”
(The ghost of Fats Waller looms large.) Am I mean to say I am sick of songs in French?
There are two, in addition to “Wake Up in Paris,” a Bougerol original that’s cute
but offers no surprises. “Let’s Go,” a song she wrote with Palazzo, is better. I
like the Sardines. I’ve read they throw a heck of a party, and I believe it.
-30

-Bob Ringwald
Bob Ringwald Solo Piano, duo, Trio, Quartet
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/ 806-9551
Amateur (ham) Radio K 6 Y B V

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