At Disney Hall, Pink Martini Rings in New Year with Nostalgia and Optimism
/By Truman C. Wang
1/3/2024
It’s New Year’s Eve. There were events all over town to ring in 2024. But Pink Martini at the Walt Disney Concert Hall was unique. A class act, with eclectic musical selections that defy categorization, but can vaguely be labeled as jazz-club multicultural fusion world music – the band from Portland, Oregon exudes a cool sophistication underlying its hot Latin jazz beat. It’s music that everyone can relate to, especially in these post-pandemic times of cultural and gender inclusivity.
Representing the nostalgic, idyllic past were the Von Trapp great-grandchildren (August, Sofi, Melanie, Amanda) singing, sometimes yodeling, in bewitching four-part harmony. Their song “Winter Nights” started softly like a prayer, and ended with a stirring burst of optimism for the future. It was followed by a cute Latin song about a cat, punctuated by Brazilian samba rhythm and interjected by Robert Taylor’s rousing trombone solo.
Representing the ‘future’, aka our times of inclusivity, were NPR’s Ari Shapiro (a Jewish gay man) and jazz vocalist Edna Vazquez (a Mexican lesbian, appearing this evening at the home of the LA Phil, appropriately, as a Dudamel look-alike). Shapiro lent his familiar suave voice to a new song by a Palestinian refugee, first in Arabic, then repeated in Spanish, accompanied by sweet violin obbligato. A cantor (uncredited in the program) sang a Hanukkah song in Hebrew, and joined Shapiro and China Forbes in a rousing Latin number. Vazquez contributed two hot Latin numbers – showing off her prodigious vocals in the first (with memorable orchestral riffs), and her tour-de-force guitar playing in the second (with Shapiro and the Von Trapps as backup singers).
Headlining the band, of course, was the indomitable, inimitable China Forbes, who brought her magnetic vocals to five Pink Martini favorites (“Tempo Perdido”, “Amado Mio” and the ever-popular “Eugene” and “Yolanta”, the last effectively turning the concert hall into a dance hall) She surprised me by singing a traditional Chinese happy new year song with good Chinese diction.
Bandleader Thomas Lauderdale was joined on this occasion by boyfriend Hunter Noack at the piano, playing Schubert’s Fantasia for piano four hands (D.940) which was then picked up by Forbes as “And Then You’re Gone” – a delightful fusion of classical and jazz, with a touch of Latin, naturally.
In the final minutes before the new year countdown, the Von Trapps returned us to the nostalgic past with “Edelweiss” – a somber reminder that he who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it. Indeed, “Auld Lang Syne” says goodbye to the year past, but we mustn’t forget our old acquaintances for old time’s sake.
all singing “Auld Lang Syne”
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.