Shaken, Not Stirred

Pink Martini, with special guest singer Storm Large
10 May 2012: State Theatre at Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio

With original lead singer China Forbes sidelined since last summer with vocal cord surgery and taking a year off from the band to recover, Tracy and I had some trepidation heading in to a Forbes-less Pink Martini show. We’ve seen the band perform four times at four different venues – the Cleveland Museum of Art, the House of Blues, Severance Hall, and the Palace Theatre – with Forbes, each time to a packed house. This time around, the State Theatre was embarrassingly empty, adding to our anxiety. Then Storm Large took the stage, and we quickly realized we had nothing to worry about. While Large’s voice isn’t as full as Forbes’, it’s every bit as powerful.

The little orchestra started the night off with “Amado Mio” for a couple of reasons: First, to get the audience acclimated to Forbes’ absence by force-feeding a Pink Martini classic through Large’s presence. And, second, to illustrate just how good a fit Large is with the band. Never trying to replace Forbes, she left her own mark on every last song she fronted.

We had never heard of Large prior to finding out she was appearing with the band. (She’s a Portland, Oregon local just like bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale, and was on a music reality TV show.) Regardless, Large’s personality is big enough to own the stage with her unique style.

Typical for a Pink Martini show, although there was a setlist, it was more of a recommendation than any sort of set-in-stone directive, and the troupe was guided by Lauderdale’s wonderfully entertaining song intros and backstories. Adding to the looseness of their approach was the fact this was the band’s first show of the current tour.

The first half, separated by an intermission, featured “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” presented in its original Spanish incarnation of “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás”, “Donde Estas, Yolanda?”, “Song of the Black Lizard”, and “The Flying Squirrel”. There were plenty of side trips to get the audience comfortable with Large’s somewhat naughty sensibilities and a wonderfully playful rendition of Splendor in the Grass’ “And Then You’re Gone”/”But Now I’m Back” with Timothy Nishimoto. The initial set ended with the frisky “Tuca Tuca”, where Large invited a flamboyant fan in electric yellow pattered pants on stage to dance with her, and Nishimoto and Large dueting on “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again”.

Returning for more after a wardrobe change during the break, the band kicked things off with Toledo-native guitarist Dan Faehnle’s “Ohayoo Ohio” composition before Large nailed Pink Martini standards like “Splendor in the Grass”, “Hang on Little Tomato”, and “Una Notte a Napoli”. The show closed with a two-song encore featuring the return of “Amado Mio” – this time in Russian! – and “Brasil”.

Other classics from the band’s repertoire were noticeably absent from the set, including “Sympathique” and “Hey Eugene”, but they weren’t necessarily missed or interpretations I wanted to hear. Those two songs in particular are so closely associated with Forbes that it was probably best to not try and shoehorn them into the show or Large’s style.

Trading Forbes’ reserved elegance for Large’s brassy personality worked beautifully in execution. She pulled off a great trick by filling in for the absent regular and staying true to the band, but putting her own mark on the proceedings. At the end of the day, I certainly look forward to seeing (and hearing) Forbes back out front, but I can’t help but hope that Pink Martini captures their temporary collaboration with Large in some way. They are just that good.

'Tis the Season

Pink Martini
18 November 2010: Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio

Driving up to Playhouse Square Thursday night listening to Pink Martini’s Splendor in the Grass album, Tracy said to me, “I wish they would do a Christmas album.”

Walking in to the lobby of the Palace Theatre for our second Pink Martini concert in eight months, Tracy wandered over to the merch table and returned with a copy of the just-released-two-days-earlier Pink Martini holiday CD, Joy to the World.

We knew this show would be different from the Severance Hall concert in March – for starters, this one wouldn’t be with the Cleveland Orchestra, but we expected it would be largely the same – so it was a great surprise to be treated to not only a setlist of their standards, but also ring in the holiday season with some world-spanning Christmas music!

The little orchestra from Portland, Oregon opened with “Bolero”, which seems to have taken its place as their regular set opener these days (and without complaint – I love that song!). And they hit all the high points: “Sympathique”, “Hey Eugene”, “Hang on Little Tomato”, “Amada Mio”, “Donde Estas, Yolanda?”, and “Over the Valley”. Making room for the holiday tunes, “Verionique” was notably absent, and as much as I enjoy the one-two fun of “And Then You’re Gone”/“But Now I’m Back” off last year’s Splendor – and they were fun live earlier this year – I’m glad they excised them from the setlist this time around. As amusing as those two are, I’d hate to see two spots on the setlist taken up by them when there are so many other options in their rich catalog.

(Pink Martini at Pittock Mansion, Photo by Autumn de Wilde)

Joy to the World offered some beautiful holiday color to the program. Lead singer China Forbes transformed and owned both “Shchedryk” (a song Americans know as “Carol of the Bells”) in its original Ukrainian and “Little Drummer Boy”. Bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale and the rest of Pink Martini had a good time with “Auld Lang Syne” and “Congratulations – A Happy New Year Song”.

Lauderdale, serving as ringmaster as much as bandleader, was in a particularly playful mood. He rode bandmate Dan Faehnle relentlessly on his Ohio roots. The former Diana Krall guitarist from Toledo was ribbed and quizzed and embarrassed by Lauderdale in the most playful and good-natured way. And when the band came out for their encore, they opened it with a rag-tag version of “Beautiful Ohio”, the state song.

Like in March, the band came out after the performance and signed autographs and posed for pictures in the lobby of the stately theater. While I maintain that House of Blues was the best venue to enjoy the band, the atmosphere of Playhouse Square suits Pink Martini just fine.

Orchestral Maneuvers

Pink Martini, with the Cleveland Orchestra (Conducted by James Feddeck)
30 March 2010: Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio

“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

When we first discovered Pink Martini, I assumed we would never have the opportunity to see this quirky music collective from Portland, Oregon live. But for the third time in six-and-a-half years, we have been fortunate enough to witness the “little orchestra” in person, every venue different, every time offering something new.

The first time we saw them, it was around the time their second album, Hang on Little Tomato, was released. The venue was the Cleveland Museum of Art auditorium, and it was spectacular. The acoustics were the best of any venue we’ve seen them in, and it was the only time we’ve seen them play “Que Sera Sera” live, with its revelatory swirling calliope-from-hell menace. Pure genius.

The second show was at the Cleveland House of Blues. They were touring behind their third album, Hey Eugene! We attended with friends and had an opera box to ourselves. It was a perfect setting in the sense of being able to cut a little loose and dance and move with the music.

Now, Pink Martini is doing an orchestra tour behind Splendor in the Grass, with a stop at venerated Severance Hall and backed by the Cleveland Orchestra. The venue was visually impressive, and the orchestra’s acoustics (both Pink Martini and the Cleveland Orchestra) were fantastic, but the vocals were set way down low in the mix, making it hard to hear lyrics and between song banter at times.

The show opened with one of my all-time favorite Pink Martini tunes, “Bolero”. In this setting, with the full Orchestra backing them, it was transcendent. This commanding instrumental was followed by singer China Forbes’ entrance, and continued an impeccable song selection that pulled from all four albums, hitting nearly every high-point necessary to make the night special. There was the traditional Turkish “Uskudar” (made famous by Eartha Kitt in the ’50s), the playful one-two of “And Then You’re Gone”/“But Now I’m Back” from Splendor in the Grass. “Sympathique” and “Donde Estas, Yolanda?”, both from their debut, also showed up in the first set.

The second set opened with one of Tracy’s all-time favorites, “Amado Mio”, and included a rollicking (considering the venue and audience) rendition of “Hey Eugene” and a beautiful reading of “Over the Valley” and the title song off the new album. Amazing, stirring moments from cellist Pansy Chang complimented Forbes’ reading of the Croatian song, “U Plavu Zoru”, and Robert Taylor’s always-impressive vocal and trombone work on “Veronique”. Multiple encores closed out the show, and an announcement that the band would be available for a signing in the lobby after the concert.

We made our way to the lobby, saw the line wasn’t too long, and decided to hop in it and meet the band (Forbes was the only no-show for the signing). Thomas Lauderdale, mastermind behind the music collective, was up first at the long table of Pink Martini members. He was quick to jump up and pose for photos and chat with us, and all the other band members were gracious and kind, if seeming somewhat (and understandably) tired.

While not the best Pink Martini show from an acoustic perspective, it was still a great show in an amazing venue. It’s criminal to bury Forbes’ soaring vocals, but the song selection was above reproach and we’re already looking forward to the next time Pink Martini comes through town.

"Let's Never Stop Falling in Love"
(from Discover the World: Live in Concert DVD)