A defining moment in a group's career can arrive from the most unexpected of places. For Pink Martini, it came courtesy of the United Nations.
Last month Srgjan Kerim, the new president of the U.N.'s General Assembly, ordered 30 copies of Pink Martini's second album, 2004's "Hang on Little Tomato." The Macedonian was so smitten after catching a recent Pink Martini show in Vancouver that he intends to pass out the CD during his first official meeting.
"It's the best compliment we've ever received," says Thomas Lauderdale, founder and musical director of Pink Martini, adding he's considering sending the mini-orchestra's three CDs to representatives of all 192 U.N. member countries. For a band that spends considerable time performing outside the U.S. -- and in 12 languages -- the touring possibilities are staggering.
The group's heady cocktail of standards, classical, Latin and pop music draws upon myriad influences. Lauderdale loves Abba, Beethoven and Serge Gainsbourg equally. But Pink Martini's musical foundation is built on sounds from the '40s, '50s and early '60s.
"There was a real goal of creating something that was beautiful back then," Lauderdale says. "In modern culture, we've kind of lost that. It's become more complex and less beautiful. I think the challenge is to try to draw inspiration from the past, yet with a vision that's informed by what it means to be a citizen in the year 2007. There was a time in America when everyone had a piano and people gathered around it and sang. That's part of what the band is trying to do -- gather people together."
That golden era also plays heavily into the 14-piece band's look, which leans toward smart suits for the men and satiny cocktail dresses for the women, including lead singer China Forbes, who was Lauderdale's classmate at Harvard.
"It's the idea of putting on your best and going out on the town," Lauderdale says of Pink Martini's image. "When the band started, I was thinking about 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and 'La Dolce Vita.' "
Pink Martini formed in Lauderdale's hometown of Portland, Ore., in 1994 to play political rallies opposing that state's anti-gay referendum, with Lauderdale performing in a cocktail dress of his own. He hung up his pumps as he found "camp only goes so far. For the music to be really better, we needed to be more earnest and more respectful."
