HOT SUGAR BAND

QUICK STATS
started: 2010
home base: Paris, France
style: French swing & French jazz
band size: septet + vocalist
US Tour Dates: TBA 2022

THE BAND
Founded in 2010, the Hot Sugar Band quickly grew to become one of the flagships of the world of Lindy-Hop and swing dances, before winning a great notoriety in the world of jazz in general.

Based in Paris and featuring some of the best musicians in the French swing and jazz scene, the group performs at the most important swing events in 50+ countries - Sweden, Hungary, Lithuania, Vietnam, Canada, Spain, South Korea, China, Italy, Netherlands.

The unique and highly identifiable sound of this orchestra, which draws its influences from John Kirby's sextet, the clasics of Artie Shaw or Basie, makes the Hot Sugar Band one of the most demanded groups in the world of swing, with 350+ concerts in the last 5 years.

At the end of 2018, the group began a collaboration with American singer Nicole Rochele to explore the vocal repertoire of the 1930’s and 40’s. This collaboration led to the recording of Eleanora at the end of 2019.

THE PROJECT: Eleanora
One evening in 1935, in a Harlem café where their daughter sang, the parents of Billie Holiday met. "Eleanora is going to be a great artist, isn't she?” His father dares; And her mother, full of pride: "But she already is!”

This scene, fictionalized by the artist herself, in Billie's autobiography, was a starting point to Hot Sugar Band's new record: a tribute to the brightest few years in Lady Day's life, barely out of a dark childhood and already one of the greatest, before diving into heroin and a tragic fate.

To embody this icon without betraying it, we wanted to work with Nicole Rochele, a great specialist and lover of this repertoire, which she brings to life between homage and personal interpretation.

Starting from the original arrangements, the band wrote new versions of these iconic songs, also emphasizing solos and interplay. The result is a record rooted in swing tradition and crossed by the sensibilities of today's musicians; a record that takes a sunny look at these few years in the life of a legend.

PRESS:


The Hot Sugar Band is a real swinging time machine. One that takes you right back to the 1930′s ballrooms of Harlem, straight in to the golden age of Jazz. Don’t let their young faces fool you, despite their young age they’ve captured the real spirit of jazz and their motto is to swing it and to make everybody around swing with them. With genial arrangements they bring classics with Fats Waller, Count Basie, Fletcher Wallen and Django Reinhardt back to life for the audience to enjoy. The word fantastic is an understatement for this great swing band!!
- HerrängDanceCamp

The Hot Sugar band acquired in a few years a solid and flattering fame in the world of swing dance (...) truth is that those young musicians gave themselves the means to succeed: meticulous a! arrangements, perfect rhythm, high-quality soloists, and this inimitable pulse that is so rare ! (...)!
- angers.fr

Eight french musicians... got onboard together for marathon-weeks around the world. Yesterday in Istambul, tomorrow in Angers, the day after in Vilnius... The Hot Sugar Band’s got a mission: Make swing champions dance!! However, don’t you take this band as a simple rhythm-provider ! Its members, addicted to freedom, are all great stunt fliers....
- Ouest-France

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