Pink Martini (USA)

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, Thomas Lauderdale 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 has twelve musicians and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand and North America.

The band has collaborated and performed with Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing, Henri Salvador, Jane Powell, Chavela Vargas, Georges Moustaki, Michael Feinstein, DJ Dimitri from Paris, clarinetist and conductor Norman Leyden, Hiroshi Wada, DJ Johnny Dynell and several drag queens from New York City, among others.

"Pink Martini definitely is an original force in contemporary music even as it basks in eclectic nostalgia. It also bridges, better than any band in recent memory, the high-brow/pop culture divide." – The Washington Times, June 29, 2005.

"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 'Hang on Little Tomato'. The Macedonian was so smitten after catching a recent show in Vancouver B.C. that he intends to pass out the cd during his first official meeting."– Los Angeles Times, 13 September 2007.

www.pinkmartini.com

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