Pink Martini

The eclectic, acoustic-oriented sounds of Pink Martini have never been easy to categorize, but that hasn't prevented the Portland, Oregon-based band from acquiring a loyal, enthusiastic cult following. Pink Martini have offered a risk-taking blend of jazz (mainly swing), world music, cabaret, lounge, and '40s-'50s film music, with influences ranging from <a href="spotify:artist:6rrwIOOzyvn76SDbkxjIjS">Cole Porter</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Duke Ellington</a> to French icon <a href="spotify:artist:1WPcVNert9hn7mHsPKDn7j">Edith Piaf</a> to Latin greats such as <a href="spotify:artist:44w5lL6V07MCIaEX3aba8R">Xavier Cugat</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1Sp47peMTI9na8FTY4yHJw">Beny Moré</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6SPpCqM8gOzrtICAxN5NuX">Tito Puente</a>. Music from around the world has also inspired them, including French chanson, Afro-Cuban salsa, Argentinian tango, Brazilian samba and bossa nova, Italian folk, Greek rembetiko, Middle Eastern music, and Asian music. Impressively, Pink Martini's lead singer, <a href="spotify:artist:3eBVmYkS103Lfh4IPH0H9A">China Forbes</a> (b. April 29, 1970, Cambridge, Massachusetts), has performed in at least ten different languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Greek, Arabic, and Japanese. In 2004, Pink Martini founder/pianist <a href="spotify:artist:6687FLqoLQQnLXQiBC7NxL">Thomas M. Lauderdale</a> (b. July 14, 1970, Oakland, California) articulated the band's global outlook perfectly when he said: "I think it's important to be a citizen of the world as opposed to being a citizen of this particular country. Part of that means studying other people's languages."

<a href="spotify:artist:6687FLqoLQQnLXQiBC7NxL">Lauderdale</a> formed Pink Martini in 1994, hiring <a href="spotify:artist:3eBVmYkS103Lfh4IPH0H9A">Forbes</a> as the band's lead singer the following year. Neither <a href="spotify:artist:6687FLqoLQQnLXQiBC7NxL">Lauderdale</a> nor <a href="spotify:artist:3eBVmYkS103Lfh4IPH0H9A">Forbes</a> is a native of Portland; <a href="spotify:artist:3eBVmYkS103Lfh4IPH0H9A">Forbes</a>, who grew up in Cambridge, met <a href="spotify:artist:6687FLqoLQQnLXQiBC7NxL">Lauderdale</a> when both of them were attending Harvard University in the late '80s (she graduated in 1992). And <a href="spotify:artist:6687FLqoLQQnLXQiBC7NxL">Lauderdale</a> lived in California and Indiana as a kid, although he spent his teens in Portland and moved back to Portland not long after graduating from Harvard. <a href="spotify:artist:3eBVmYkS103Lfh4IPH0H9A">Forbes</a> recorded a solo album, Love Handle, in 1995, but Pink Martini quickly became her main focus. Other members of Pink Martini have included Gavin Bondy on trumpet, Robert Taylor on trombone, <a href="spotify:artist:7zgplSaxHCUwpfPj8QktUx">Phil Baker</a> on acoustic bass, Nicholas Crosa on violin, Brian Lavern Davis on drums and percussion, Timothy Nishimoto on percussion and vocals, and Derek Rieth and <a href="spotify:artist:3ArtW1z24MB3DyouZJJ7JJ">Martín Zarzar</a> on percussion. Pink Martini's debut album, Sympathique, was released on their own independent label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Heinz+Records%22">Heinz Records</a>, in 1997; they went on to release their second album, Hang on Little Tomato, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Heinz%22">Heinz</a> in 2004 and their third album, Hey Eugene!, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Heinz%22">Heinz</a> in 2007. The following year, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Heinz%22">Heinz</a> released <a href="spotify:artist:3eBVmYkS103Lfh4IPH0H9A">Forbes</a>' second solo album, '78, which was a major departure from her work with Pink Martini and favored an introspective adult alternative approach along the lines of <a href="spotify:artist:73JEBdDEFeVaOLg3y0HhBD">Natalie Merchant</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4NgNsOXSwIzXlUIJcpnNUp">Sarah McLachlan</a>.

The year 2009 was a busy one for the band, with the concert DVD Discover the World: Live in Concert, which showed how Pink Martini spent most of their 2008, arriving that summer and the album Splendor in the Grass, which featured collaborations with <a href="spotify:artist:0WC6O2ZzUcDYvcmt2mGh8c">Chavela Vargas</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7siPLyFwRFYQkKgWKJ5Sod">the Dandy Warhols</a>' Courtney Taylor-Taylor, appearing that fall. In 2010 they released the swellegant holiday album Joy to the World, which featured revered Japanese singer <a href="spotify:artist:4xMe6s0HgL2CSpUpJO5bd6">Saori Yuki</a>. The band collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:4xMe6s0HgL2CSpUpJO5bd6">Saori</a> again on the following year's 1969, a collection of interpretations of that year's most memorable songs. Sessions for their sixth release began in January 2012 and included a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:6AmG7SNdlV9boPZ7dFVnLY">Charlie Chaplin</a>'s "Smile" featuring <a href="spotify:artist:6zpBaeCJhmfpQP6GrfoGwv">Phyllis Diller</a>, who sadly passed away that summer. The results, Get Happy, arrived in 2013. Pink Martini then collaborated with Sofia, Melanie, Amanda, and August von Trapp, the great-grandchildren of the von Trapp family, whose escape from the Nazis inspired The Sound of Music. Dream a Little Dream, a mix of standards and original songs, was released in March 2014. That August, the band mourned the passing of conga player and percussionist Derek Rieth; a memorial drum parade was held in his honor that September. In 2016, Pink Martini returned with new music in the form of Je de Oui!, which included guest appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:2PfBzriIMRsCXPDtSy9vg8">Rufus Wainwright</a>, Ari Shapiro, and Ikram Goldman, and featured the group's first forays into Armenian and Xhosa music. Also included on the album was the single "Love for Sale," a distinctive rendition of the <a href="spotify:artist:6rrwIOOzyvn76SDbkxjIjS">Cole Porter</a> classic. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi