After the five person Madrigaia group walked off stage, I think the audience was surprised to see a whopping 13 people take the stage as Portland, Oregon's Pink Martini. Opening with Ravel's Bolero, the audience immediately gave them applause after the few opening notes of Pansy Chang's cello. When trumpeter Gavin Bondy stepped up to the mike and blasted out his notes, the room erupted once again in applause. It was a sensational opening piece that showed the audience, that without a doubt, this band could play.
Following this tune, leader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale, who looks not unlike a young Asian Elton John with his glasses and shock of spiky blond hair, introduced yet another member of the band, the focal point, singer China Forbes. Forbes, dressed in a tasteful black dress later on joked about she was shopping at Holt Renfrew and ended up heading back there to try a few more things on. She was very much what the confident, beautiful centrepiece but what surprised me the most was the number of languages she sang in! Like Thomas Lauderdale, she graduated cum laude from Harvard. I couldn't tell, but Forbes' mom is African American and her dad French-Scottish.
A few of the songs originated from decades old movies, some of which they transcribed only to learn they wrote some of the words down incorrectly. While the band could have taken the easy way and simply played nothing but standards sung in English, I have to give them credit for seeking out songs from other cultures and singing them in their original languages. Forbes sang in Japanese, Portugese, French, Spanish, Croation and Arabic. Still, after a while, I grew a little tired of the foreign vocals. A few other members of the band also sang lead vocals,including the trombonist
What I like about Pink Martini is that they don't play it safe. Forbes wasn't afraid to write about men who swept her off of her feet and then never called her. She recounted one such encounter which turned into the song, "Hey Eugene," which had the audience in stitches.
While both Lauderdale and Forbes met at Harvard, they went their separate ways after graduation. Lauderdale was unsatisfied with the music being performed at political fundraisers and formed the band to provide better music. Forbes kept on commuting to the West Coast until finally she decided to settle their and make the band her full time career.
After the show, the band met hundreds of new and old adoring fans in the lobby for a meet and greet and to sign CDs.
Are Pink Martini too eccentric or do they strike the right balance of virtuosity and kitsch for modern audiences who don't want anything resembling the cheese of Lawrence Welk while wishing to revel in the sonic glory and visual spectacle of a mini-orchestra? For me, it's the latter.
Openers local a cappella group Madrigaia sing in several languages and for the first time, played with a drummer. Their best material so far is from their landmark first album, and since they played more newer songs, the show was very good but not quite superb. Still, they no doubt played in front of many people who had not seen them before. Some of them look like they are having a good time, while others look a little apprehensive. Madrigaia performed for Queen Elizabeth at the Forks a couple of years ago and are worth checking out
Almost one year later exactly, they returned for the first of two shows at the Pantages.
The 6 pm show was very much like last year's show. The band was a bit smaller, missing one of the string players.
Again, it seemed as if most of the songs were sung in foreign languages, making the multi-lingual members of the audience perk up when their mother tongue was used. The setlist was actually almost the same as last year's show. During the encore, with one subtle gesture of her hand, lead singer China Forbes had the audience standing up, dancing and clapping along. The violinist performed a composition with the piano player and this brought an avalanche of applause.
Pink Martini had to book two shows due to overwhelming demand for tickets. If they sound like you might like them, definitely check them out sometime.
How was the opening act (Meaghan Smith Trio) last night? I was really interested in seeing them, but I think the only show she played was opening for PM.
I heard good things about her...a bit Sarah Harmer-ish. http://www.myspace.com/meaghansmithmusic has her music (her website seems only to have lyrics). Apparently she'll be putting out an album in the fall.
Ah, Meaghan Smith Trio. Excellent singer, whose vocal style is popular these days. She seemed a bit tentative at first, and didn't look comfortable enough dancing in heels. Later on, however, she had the audience laughing about her songs about her ex's, while having her husband the good sport, play acoustic guitar to them. She was charming. The piano player was good, the bassist looked like a country bumpkin and the tunes were all right. I'm not sure I would go out of my way to see them again. Her music is as close to jazz as say, the Smothers Brothers, but I could hear comments from audience members about how they loved the performance.
She announced how they have an album coming out in the fall and that they are signed to Warner Brothers, and made a joke about how she went to the record label's offices in New York and the label president met with them after just speaking with Madonna.
I'm much rather see the Susie Arioli group with guitarist Jordan Officer. They play very nostaligic 20s era jazz, which is something you don't get to see all that often.