TueNight 10: Elizabeth Bougerol

By TueNight Crew

A few years ago, Elizabeth Bougerol downed two stiff drinks and ventured out to a jazz jam she’d heard about nearby. There, she sang (something she’d mostly only done in the shower) and met a piano player who shared her love of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles. Today, the band they created out of a mission to spread the joy of traditional jazz is doing just that. Their debut album, “The Hot Sardines,” spent more than a year on the Billboard Jazz Chart, and their latest, “French Fries + Champagne,” hit no. 1 at iTunes Jazz, landing them at the Newport Jazz Festival, the Blue Note Festival in Japan, and a few hundred points in-between. Right now she’s prepping a live album, gearing up for 50+ tour dates, and working on a project celebrating the France-America love affair through jazz, slated for next fall. She’s also readying another installment of Ladies First, the NYC dance party/“celebration of badass women musicians”/Planned Parenthood fundraiser she created last year with the skint, the newsletter she co-founded. And she’s trying to get her 2-year-old to brush his teeth on the regular.

1. On the nightstand: Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York. Will Friedwald’s Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers (it’s 800 pages, so it’ll be on my nightstand until I die). And a lot of online content— Brain Pickings, Caroline Crampton’s No Complaints and Cup of Jo are favorites.

2. Can’t stop/won’t stop: Maldon Salt, on all foods, forever. Instagram. Podcasts: Here’s the Thing, Employee of the Month, Nerdette, Fresh Air.

3. Jam of the minute: A new collaboration has me digging into classic honky-tonk, like Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner’s “Just Someone I Used to Know.” Cecile McLorin-Salvant’s Dreams and Daggers is lovely and just earned her a second Grammy nomination. The Ladybugs’ holiday EP is haunting.  

4. Thing I miss: Breaking Bad. Grocery stores in France, where I grew up.

5. 80’s crush: Prince

6. Current crush: Prince

7. Will whine about: Whining is something I’m trying to quit, because it doesn’t make me feel good. I wish I was one of those “It’s cathartic!” people. Maybe the first two minutes are cathartic, but after that the self-loathing creeps in. So I try to convert it into something productive until the feeling passes – a project I’m working on, a thank-you note. It’s not foolproof, but it’s made a real difference to my mood and energy level.

8. Will wine about: Gin or anything sparkling

9. Best thing that happened yesterday: Found out our recording of “Bei Mir Bist du Schoen” is going to be in the remake of Papillon, with Rami Malek and Charlie Hunnam.

10. Looking forward to: Christmas through my two-year-old’s eyes – I can’t wait to wrap this tour, get home and do it all: the tree, baking cookies with grandma, watching him learn about Santa. Playing Big Easy on the Hudson, a celebration of New Orleans’ 300th birthday at NYC’s Symphony Space next week. Touring in China next year. My son really nailing “Please” and “Thank you.”

Originally Published December 12, 2017. Updated April 5, 2021.