Pink Martini, led by pianist Thomas Lauderdale and lead singer China Forbes, channels influences from around the world—Latin, Middle Eastern, and Asian music—through the filter of big-band jazz, offering a sophisticated update of a style that’s often regarded with winking irony. The retro style masks the Portland, Ore.-based 12-piece orchestra’s adventurous spirit—there’s nothing nostalgic about Pink Martini’s cosmopolitan approach, which ignores boundaries both geographic and aesthetic but still feels whole, thanks to Lauderdale’s expansive and generous perspective. It’s not entirely a formal exercise, though. Pink Martini swings. (Matthew Everett)
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