SummerStage: Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9 / The Hot Sardines / Bria Skonberg and the New York Hot J

Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9 is an artistic collaboration destined to happen. Ever since New Orleans singer and pianist Henry Butler settled in Brooklyn, it was only a matter of time before the gifted pianist and vocalist hooked up with retro-futurist trumpeter and bandleader Steven Bernstein. Master musician, pianist and vocalist Henry Butler tells stories through the rise, swing, and rumble of his fingers as they channel sounds as diverse as his Louisiana birthplace: jazz, Caribbean, classical, pop, blues and R&B, among others. 

Take a blustery brass lineup, layer it over a rhythm section led by a stride-piano virtuoso in the Fats Waller vein, and tie the whole thing together with a frontwoman with a voice from another era, and you have the Hot Sardines. It’s a great American success story worthy of the cinema. A born-and-bred NYC actor meets a Parisian-born writer at an open jazz jam over a noodle shop in Manhattan, and from there the Hot Sardines were born. 

Trumpeter/Vocalist Bria Skonberg is “poised to be one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation.”(Wall Street Journal) A specialist in classic American hot jazz, Skonberg expands the vocabulary and traditions of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet with worldly rhythms and modern jazz variance. Her US debut album “So Is The Day” peaked at #7 on the National Jazz Charts, and featured original compositions and NOLA inspired stylistic fusions.