Pink Martini shakes and stirs

I was a bit grumpy at first, but the hr. long drive from Seattle to Tacoma was worth every mile.

I will admit I'm a fairly new fan of Portland OR. based Pink Martini. I discovered them when they played a live studio set on NPR about a yr. ago and was impressed and in love with their world music sound from the start! So when my sister got me a ticket to see them in Tacoma with her and her hubby I was quite excited to say the least.

The Pantages Theater in Tacoma was a perfect venue to see this band for a couple of reasons. It's a fairly small theater that seats about 600 so it made it a much more personal, and intimate atmosphere (even lead singer China Forbes said "playing a smaller place is a nice change")  and the smaller size made the acoustics wonderfully rich and vibrant! This was a big plus since it was about a 10 piece band including a cello, violin, percussion, Upright Bass, trumpet and of course band leader/director Thomas Lauderdale on piano.

They opened up with a classic from their 2nd record called 'Let's never stop falling in love' with China Forbes dressed in a flowing all black full length dress. Her voice is simply breath taking. Ranging from full and almost operatic in some parts, to a calming whisper in others. All beautifully blended and controlled. One of the most enjoyable things about her singing is her fluency in 7 languages. She sang songs in Japanese, Croatian, Italian, French and even Arabic. The songs ranging from golden oldie classics like 'Tea for two' and 'Never on a Sunday' to contemporary blends of Flaminco and Bossa Nova tunes like 'No Hay Problema' and 'La Solidad'.  There seemed to be a genuine warm and often humorous exchange between China and Thomas as they introduced songs and band members. Each member of Pink Martini by the way are so talented in they're own right. The solos were all given much deserved applause. Thomas at one point went over and sat on Cello player Pansy Changs lap while China was singing, and China told a quick funny story about Thomas prank calling a hotel.

The band played a lot of new material to promote their new CD 'Splendor in the grass' which has even more world music than their previous 4 albums. This album has songs from chamber music to Cuban to foreign films. One of the most light hearted and fun songs is called 'Tuca Tuca' which translates into 'Touch Touch' and China got Thomas to get up from his piano and do a quick silly 'dance' where they patted each other from head to toe, much to the audiences delight and laughter.

But the highlight of this superb concert came at the end of the 2 standing ovation songs. The management actually arranged a autograph signing from the entire band after the show! I got my 'Hang On Little Tomato' CD signed and got to speak a little to all of them. Ya can't ask for a better night!