Splendor in the Grass is the fourth full-length album from the band Pink Martini. It was released in October 2009 on their own label Heinz Records.

The album is named after its third track, and features songs in five languages (English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Neapolitan). Collaborators included National Public Radio correspondent Ari Shapiro singing on the track "But Now I'm Back" PinkMartini.com and Sesame Street performer Emilio Delgado on a cover of Joe Raposo's "Sing". Other covers included on the album are "Piensa en mí", written by Agustín Lara and his sister Maria Teresa Lara for the 1948 film Revancha; "Tuca Tuca", originally performed by Raffaella Carrà; and the Moondog song "New Amsterdam".

The album debuted at No. 45 on the Billboard 200 and No. 10 on Top Independent Albums with 12,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.Laura Leebove, , Billboard.com, November 9, 2009. The album was certified platinum in Greece.

Personnel

* Hugo Alfvén

* Neil Anderson - Choir, Chorus

* Jennifer Arnold - Viola

* Phil Baker - Guitar, Sitar, Bass

* John Bartley - Choir, Chorus

* Joel Belgique - Viola

* Christopher Benjamin - Choir, Chorus

* Heather Blackburn - Cello

* Gavin Bondy - Trumpet, Cornet, Horn (Alto), Vocals, Piccolo Trumpet, Brass Arrangement, Saxophone Arrangement

* Joe Bozzi - Mastering

* Karen Brooks - Toy Piano

* João Canziani - Cover Photo

* Pansy Chang - Cello

* Julie Coleman - Violin

* Nicholas Crosa - Violin

* Brian Davis - Percussion

* Emilio Delgado - Vocals

* Daniel Dempsey - Choir, Chorus

* Gregory Ewer - Violin

* Joy Fabos - Violin

* Dan Faehnle - Guitar

* China Forbes - Vocals

* Dave Friedlander - Engineer, Mixing

* Paloma Griffin - Violin

* Bernie Grundman - Mastering

* Doree Jarboe - Direction

* Timothy Jensen - Saxophone, Brass Arrangement, Saxophone Arrangement

* Ben Landsverk - Group

* Thomas M. Lauderdale - Piano, Producer, Photography

* Maureen Love - Harp

* Peter Murray - Photography

* Timothy Nishimoto - Percussion, Vocals

* Charles Noble - Viola

* Derek Rieth - Percussion

* Courtney Taylor-Taylor

* Salvador Tercero - Vocal Engineer

* Chavela Vargas - Vocals

* Martin Zarzar - Percussion, Vocals, Brass Arrangementallmusic, , retrieved March 4, 2010

References

Artist/Band Information

Pink Martini is a 12-member "little orchestra" from their official website from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale. They draw inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop. Band leader, Thomas Lauderdale describes the band's sound as "music of the world without being world music. If the United Nations had a house band in 1962 hopefully Pink Martini would be that band. "My hope is that we’re creating exquisite musical wallpaper which can be turned up or down, and played on almost any occasion, from background music to a love affair to vacuuming around the house."

History

In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale was working in politics, thinking that one day he would run for mayor. Like other politicians-in-training, he went to every political fundraiser under the sun … but was dismayed to find the music at these events underwhelming, lackluster, loud and un-neighborly. 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, he founded Pink Martini 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 sometimes travels with string sections), 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. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with over 30 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004 & 2008; two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in NYC; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; and the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia.

Lauderdale met China Forbes, Pink Martini’s lead vocalist, at Harvard. He was studying history and literature while she was studying English literature and painting. Actually neither of them really studied, they socialized … and late at night, they would break into the lower common room in their college dormitory and sing arias by Puccini and Verdi – and the occasional campy Barbara Streisand cover –thus sealing their creative collaboration. Three years after graduating, Lauderdale called Forbes who was living in New York City, where she’d been writing songs and playing guitar in her own folk-rock project, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together for the band. Their first song “Sympathique”– with the chorus “Je ne veux pas travailler”(”I don’t want to work”) – became an overnight sensation in France, and was even nominated for “Song of the Year”at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards.

Pink Martini’s debut album Sympathique was released independently in 1997 on the band’s own label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), and quickly became an international phenomenon, garnering the group nominations for “Song of the Year”and “Best New Artist”in France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2000.

In October 2004, the group released its second album, Hang on Little Tomato.

In May 2007, the group released its third album, Hey Eugene!.

Their fourth studio album, Splendor in the Grass (album) was released on October 27, 2009.

Sympathique, Hang on Little Tomato and Hey Eugene! have all gone gold in France, Canada, Greece and Turkey, and Pink Martini's records have collectively sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. , Portland Tribune, retrieved May 15, 2007.

On New Year's Eve 2005, Pink Martini performed live at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. This performance was aired live on National Public Radio's Toast of the Nation, and in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting was recorded for a live DVD and later broadcast on US public broadcasting and French television. The DVD has been rereleased to retail as Discover the World: Live in Concert, featuring not only the full concert, but several vignettes and a short documentary of the band's history.

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. On June 1, 2007, the band appeared on the long-running BBC Two Later with Jools Holland TV music program. On June 14, 2007, Pink Martini performed on Late Show with David Letterman, performing "Hey Eugene".

Pink Martini played Walt Disney Concert Hall on New Year's Eve for the first two years it was open (2003/4 and 2004/5). They returned to play NYE there again in 2008/9.

In May 2009, the band recorded three concerts with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Carlos Kalmar for the band’s fifth album … a symphonic record which is slated for a 2011 release.

Pink Martini songs appear in such films as In the Cut, Nurse Betty, Josie and the Pussycats, Tortilla Soup, Shanghai Kiss and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and most recently "Una notte a Napoli" part of soundtrack of the italian movie Mine Vaganti (2010) of the italian/turkish director Ferzan Özpetek, and have been used on television shows such as Dead Like Me, The Sopranos and The West Wing, among others. The song "No Hay Problema" is included as background/setup music for Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 and was also used as the background/setup music for an early build of Windows Longhorn, now known as Windows Vista.

Discography

* Sympathique (1997) Heinz Records

* Hang on Little Tomato (2004) Heinz Records

* Hey Eugene! (2007) Heinz Records

* Discover the World: Live in Concert (DVD) (2009) Heinz Records

* Splendor in the Grass (2009) Heinz Records

References