| Product Summary | | Label: HEINZ RECORDS/ALLEGRO | | UPC: 00723721448059 | | Release Date: 10/27/2009 | | Buy.com Sku: 211949596 | | Item#: M4R4V6 | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 288 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Ninna nanna ~ Pink Martini |  | | 2. Ohayoo Ohio (Hello Ohio) ~ Pink Martini | | | 3. Splendor in the Grass ~ Pink Martini | | | 4. O? est ma t?te? ~ Pink Martini | | | 5. And Then You're Gone ~ Pink Martini | | | 6. But Now I'm Back ~ Pink Martini | | | 7. Sunday Table ~ Pink Martini | | | 8. Over the Valley ~ Pink Martini | | | 9. Tuca tuca ~ Pink Martini | | | 10. Bitty Boppy Betty ~ Pink Martini | | | 11. Sing ~ Pink Martini | | | 12. Piensa en mi ~ Pink Martini | | | 13. New Amsterdam ~ Pink Martini | | | 14. Ninna nanna [Reprise] ~ Pink Martini | |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Timothy Nishimoto (vocals, percussion); China Forbes (vocals); Dan Faehnle (guitar); Maureen Love (harp); Nicholas Crosa (violin); Pansy Chang (cello); Gavin Bondy (trumpet); Thomas Lauderdale (piano); Martin Zarzar (drums, percussion); Derek Rieth (congas, percussion). | | Audio Mixer: Dave Friedlander. | | Photographers: Peter Murray; Thomas Lauderdale. | | Pink Martini follow the around-the-world-in-a-dozen-songs thrills of HEY EUGENE! with SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, a mellower, simpler set of small pleasures. These are relative terms, however; the group's music is still well-traveled, with China Forbes singing in five languages (English, Spanish, Neapolitan, French, and Italian) instead of the six or so on EUGENE!. However, Pink Martini opt for a more unified sound here, one that draws on the more straightforward lounge-pop of their debut, SYMPATHIQUE, and the mellowness of '60s and '70s pop. SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS' first half is especially smooth, opening with the beautifully soft Neapolitan ballad "Ninna Nanna" and the title track, on which Forbes sings "I think we should take it slow" over swooping strings, brass, and piano that resurrect the glory days of AM pop; that feeling is echoed by the cover of Joe Raposo's "Sing," the Sesame Street song that gained popularity when the Carpenters performed it (Emilio Delgado, aka Sesame Street's Luis, duets with Forbes here in Spanish and English). The album's first few tracks are among its most playful, including the slinky yet winking "Ohayoo Ohio" and the French confection "Ou Est Ma Tete?" While Pink Martini gets almost too cute for their own good with "And Then You're Gone" and "But Now I'm Back," a pair of songs about a quarreling couple inspired by Franz Schubert's "Fantasy Piano for Four Hands" and featuring NPR justice correspondent Ari Shapiro on the latter's vocals, SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS' second half is among their finest work. "Over the Valley" is a standout, a ballad so timelessly sweet that it seems like it must be a long-lost standard the group just blew the dust off of, but it's an original; conversely, the covers of Moondog's haunting "New Amsterdam" and Agust¡n Lara's "Piensa en Mi," sung by Chavela Vargas, sound fresh and authentic, providing the drama HANG ON LITTLE TOMATO and HEY EUGENE! provided in spades. Though it's a lower-key set of songs than those two albums, SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS is charming in its own right. |
Producer: Thomas M. Lauderdale |
Engineer: Dave Friedlander |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 10/27/2009 | | Original Release Date : 2009 | | Catalog ID : HNZ006 | | Label : Heinz Music | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Runtime : 54m : 7s | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00723721448059 |
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| | Bio | | | Pink Martini The Portland, Oregon-based 'little orchestra' was founded in 1994 by Lauderdale, a Harvard graduate and classically trained pianist, to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing and public broadcasting. In the years following Pink Martini grew from four musicians to its current twelve, and has gone on to perform its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Canada and the United States. Lauderdale met China Forbes, Pink Martini's "diva next door" lead vocalist, when the pair was at Harvard. He was studying history and literature while she was studying painting, English literature and theatre. Late into the night in their college dormitory on the Harvard campus, Forbes would sing Verdi and Puccini arias while Lauderdale accompanied her on piano, and their creative collaboration blossomed. Three years later, 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 music and lyrics together for the band, and their first song "Sympathique," or "Je ne veux pas travailler" (I don't want to work) became a huge hit in France. The ensemble made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Pink Martini has since performed with symphony orchestras across the country including four night nights with the Boston Pops in 2005, multiple concerts with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in 2000, two nights with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on a co-bill with Sergio Mendes in 2002 and two nights headlining with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2005. Other prestigious 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 and 2004; the opening party of the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Kennedy Center and the William Morris Agency's 100th birthday celebration with soul legend, Al Green.
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