Bardot cranks the star power and the live music on its Sessions night

It’s 1 a.m. on a chilly fall Saturday in Hollywood and Bardot, the ultra-exclusive club that nests above the sprawling Avalon on Vine Street, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its marquee night, a live music show called the Bardot Sessions.

About 450 invited guests, including actress Cameron Diaz, Matthew Morrison from “Glee” and Kiss front man Gene Simmons, crowd the club’s floor. An open ceiling vents the rising smoke from dozens of amber-tipped cigarettes; posh banquettes are filled with angular women with tousled hair and rakish men with square jaws; and an elaborate, curved stairwell arches its staggered backbone to a double door at the top of the room that leads to a hedonistic dance floor.

At the moment all eyes are on Macy Gray as she performs a passionate cover rendition of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” on a small riser at the center of the space. The intimate room carries a coveted sense of privilege cultivated by amicable promoter-turned-nightlife director Jason Scoppa, keeper of the list of invitees.

It wasn’t always this way. Bardot was open for a year, steadily building its clientele before Scoppa hit on the formula for the Bardot Sessions. As he tells it, there are three things that make the night unique and account for its success: Bardot is a nightclub, not a live-music venue; all the songs performed must be cover versions; and musically inclined celebrities like Jeremy Piven, Sam Sparro and Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine might hop onstage and start jamming.

“You know you’re going to go and hear some really cool music and be in the presence of artists, and I get up and pretend to be one, and they’re gracious enough to let me play with them,” says Piven, who rocks the drums with the house band whenever he’s at the club. “I always have an amazing time, it’s really infectious, and Jason’s love for music is infectious as well.”

In addition to the celebrity-sightings, the Sessions serve as a showcase for live music by unknown and up-and-coming talent.

“It should all be unexpected, that’s the key,” says Scoppa, who came to Bardot after a successful run promoting events at Hollywood’s popular Green Door. “Covers are about context and I ask artists to sing songs that people wouldn’t normally expect them to sing.”

For example he asked one of his regular Sessions singers, an African American R&B singer named Maiya Sykes, to sing “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica.

“It went over really well because nobody would expect a black girl to go up there and sing Metallica,” says Sykes, who also sings in her own band called the Endangered and is currently on tour with Macy Gray.

Scoppa’s suggestions tend to stick. Macy Gray includes the Scoppa-suggested cover of Arcade Fire in her live show and she also has Sykes perform Metallica.

Scoppa, 33, was born to a family of musicians and raised in Detroit. His grandfather took him to jazz clubs, and as a teen he skulked in and out of the grimy rock scene that birthed the White Stripes. He was influenced by the lingering legacy of Iggy Pop, the MC5 and old Motown tunes. He learned to play guitar only to realize, “I’m not a musician; I’m a much better fan.”

When he moved from Michigan to Hollywood in 2004 he expected “exclusive parties and jam sessions, and when I got here I thought, ‘I haven’t been to a party that has been that impressive,’” he says. Which is why, when he began promoting the Green Door in 2007, he tried to craft something unique.

“I knew straight DJ nights didn’t have any longevity, so we started a jazz night,” he recalls. Soon notable jazz heads like Deron Johnson and Gary Novak were jamming with Prince, Rick Astley and Anne Hathaway, and the room was among the hottest in town. That’s when Scoppa started thinking about creating a rock ‘n’ roll covers night in earnest; it’s also when Bardot partner Steve Adelman came calling and introduced Scoppa to owner John Lyons.

Lyons was transforming the room from a Moroccan-themed VIP getaway called the Spider Club and into a gilded Golden Age of Hollywood escape for A-listers and connected club-goers looking for a unique nightlife experience. Before Lyons’ involvement with Avalon and Bardot, the space was called the Palace and served as a live music venue that hosted headliners such as Prince, the Rolling Stones and Nirvana.

“Prior to Bardot you didn’t really get a live rock element in a nightclub,” says Lyons, touching on a key aspect of the night’s success. “And these impromptu performances always yield some really magical moments.”

Although much of what happens during the Saturday night Sessions (before the anniversary show they occurred on Thursdays) is improvisational, they still take planning. Scoppa decides which performers he wants to sing what songs and for what kind of crowd. He then hands off his list to musical director Nick Rosen, who plays bass in the Sessions house band and writes up notes for the musicians. There is no rehearsal, just a sound check on the day of the show.

Scoppa’s list usually includes name performers like Macy Gray, Perry Farrell or Taylor Dayne but it also includes lesser-known, highly skilled up-and-comers, like a Sessions regular who goes by the stage name L.P. (short for Laura Pergolizzi).

“L.P. was brought to us, and nobody knew how gifted she was,” says Scoppa, adding that when he first heard her sound check he thought, “This chick can save rock ‘n’ roll. Now people really freak out. The night has helped her create her own fan base. It’s really exciting to watch.”

L.P., signed to RedOne’s label 2101 Records, had been active musically before the Sessions, with past deals with Def Jam and Universal, but after she began singing at Bardot, “A lot of labels started coming out and giving me offers and sniffing around,” she says.

Among those who have performed are Gavin DeGraw, Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls, Bruno Mars and Elan Atias from the Wailers. One night the band Muse came to see the show and ended up goofing off and talking shop with musical director Rosen. The Sessions also attract actors, writers, artists and of course, agents, publicists and managers.

“We’re just music nerds, and this place is about personal connection,” says Rosen, who met Scoppa by playing jazz at Bardot with director Michel Gondry before the Sessions launched. “It’s a place you go when you want to listen. When big-name artists want to jump up and play it’s because they see that it’s about the music.”

jessica.gelt@latimes.com