Pink Martini

“Pink Martini is a rollicking around-the-world musical adventure … if the United Nations had a house band in 1962, hopefully we’d be that band.” – Thomas Lauderdale, bandleader/pianist

15 years ago in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale was working in politics, thinking that one day he would run for mayor. Like other eager beaver politicians-in-training, he went to every political fundraiser under the sun … but was dismayed to find the music at these events underwhelming,lackluster, loud and un-neighborly. Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop – and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, he founded the “little orchestra” Pink Martini in 1994 to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education and parks. “Pink Martini draws inspiration from the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s or ‘50s … with a more global perspective. We write a lot of songs … but we also champion songs like Ernesto Lecuona’s “Andalucia” or “Amado mio” from the Rita Hayworth film Gilda. In that sense we’re a bit like musical archeologists, digging through recordings and scores of years past and rediscovering beautiful songs.”

Lauderdale met China Forbes, Pink Martini’s “Diva Next Door” lead vocalist, at Harvard. He was studying history and literature while she was studying English literature and painting. Actually neither of them really studied, they socialized… and late at night, they would break into the lower common room in their college dormitory and sing arias by Puccini and Verdi – and the occasional campy Barbara Streisand cover – thus sealing their creative collaboration. Three years after graduating, Lauderdale called Forbes, who was living in New York City, where she’d been writing songs and playing guitar in her own folkrock project, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together for the band and their first song “Sympathique” became an overnight sensation in France— and was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2000.

Pink Martini’s fourth studio album – Splendor In The Grass – encapsulates the band’s history and spirit of global collaboration and inclusivity. Comprised of nine original songs and four covers (with songs in English, Neapolitan, Italian, French and Spanish), Splendor In The Grass was recorded in the band’s hometown of Portland, Oregon and produced by bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale and longtime collaborator and muse Alex Marashian—a college cohort of Lauderdale and vocalist China Forbes. Opening with the band’s first ever song in Neopolitan—“Ninna nanna” is a stunning lullaby sung for a sleeping sailor who “dreams in the blue” written for the band by longtime friends Alba Clemente (actress of Italian stage and wife of the Italian painter Francesco Clemente who co-authored the band’s hit “Una Notte a Napoli”) and New York art dealer Massimo Audiello. From guitarist Dan Faehnle’s jazzy instrumental “Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio),” to the charming chamber pop song “Sunday Table” “this album is all about participating in the world … being part of it, being out in the street and finding moments of incredible breathtaking splendor in the activities and unfoldings of every day,” says Lauderdale.