Pink Martini: Around the World in 45 Minutes

Pack your bags and get ready for a musical journey that will bring you to the four corners of the earth. Hey Eugene! is the 3^rd and latest album by the 12-membered “little orchestra” hailing from Portland, Oregon. Like their previous releases Sympathique and Hang on Little Tomato, Hey Eugene! is a multilingual album that features songs that transcend time and musical styles.

For the uninitiated, Pink Martini’s music is a melodic melting pot. Their album can sometimes be found in the Rock/Pop music section though it reached number 2 on Billboard’s top Jazz albums. Yet iTunes automatically labels the songs under the genre of Easy Listening. To make classification even more difficult, many of the songs are sung in languages other than English. Assembled by classically trained pianist Thomas Lauderdale and fronted by lead vocalist China Forbes, the ensemble is heavy on the strings (violins, cellos, guitar, bass and harp), but is balanced by percussion (congas, drums, and cavanquinho), and brass (trumpet and trombone). On the same album, one can find a rumba fit for a Cuban dance party followed by a track originally from a Japanese movie soundtrack. The fact that they have a cult following around the world is quite impressive. But what makes it even more amazing is that they have become this popular without the help of a big record label. You’ve probably never heard them on the radio and still they’ve gone platinum in their past two outings.

The album starts out with Everywhere, a tune reminiscent of the grand, dreamy love songs sung by the likes of Doris Day and Dinah Shore. An original by Lauderdale and Forbes, it sets the tone for the rest of the album: classy, grand, and fondly nostalgic. Yet the song is in the minority as it is one of the few sung in English. From here, the musical journey heads to South America with Tempo Perdido, a sultry Brazilian samba by legend Ataulfo Alves. Pink Martini is accompanied by the gospel choir of Jefferson High, a local Portland high school. How cool must it be for those choir members to be on a CD? We then make a side trip to Peru with Mar Desconocido, a piece written by Peruvian percussion member Martin Zarzar which integrates an excerpt of Chopin’s Waltz in C#-minor without blinking an eye.

The journey then takes us to Japan with Taya Tan, With minimal accompaniment, it manages to be soothing and pleasing with a haunting air of mystery. Our international travels take us to Egypt with an Arabic- language song Bukra Wba’ Do. Somehow, Pink Martini is able to infuse a bit of Broadway show tune into it, making it a memorable and catchy little piece. Heading north to Europe, Pink Martini hits its stride with a few French language songs- Ojala and Syracuse. The former has an airy playful feel to it, which is contrary to the melancholic lyrics of loss and regret. Then there is Dosvedanya Mio Bambino, a quirky piece that integrates Russian beats with Italian influences.

Though the whole album is thoroughly pleasing, peppered throughout are pieces that are exceptional. One of my favorites is Canto e Dance, a melodic and flowing piece done in Portuguese. The vocals of China Forbes and Timothy Mishimoto melt into the mellifluous guitar work of Phil Baker, who also wrote the song. What sets it apart from the other songs is its subdued, quiet gentleness. Another standout track is the title song Hey Eugene! The inspiration for the song come from a real life experience in which Forbes danced and made out with a guy named Eugene at a party in New York. He said he would call her the next day and when she never heard from him again, she wrote a song about it. The result is a comical ditty addressed to Eugene.

Hey Eugene! is the perfect anytime album, whether you just want some background music or something to sing along to (the lyrics in foreign languages are included in the liner notes, along with English translations). If you’re looking for an album with a wide variety of musical styles, all done well, this one is definitely a trip you won’t want to pass up.