Label: Heinz Records
Country: United States
Release Date: 2009.10.27

Splendor In The Grass, the fourth album from the celebrated and beloved 12-piece little orchestra Pink Martini. Splendor In The Grass was recorded in Portland, Oregon at Kung Fu Bakery, by engineer Dave Friedlander (Prince, The Decemberists) and was produced by Pink Martini bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini lead vocalist China Forbes and longtime collaborator and muse Alex Marashian. Marashian, who directed the band’s only music video, “Sympathique,” in summer of 1999, was editor in chief of Colors Magazine in Paris in the mid-1990s and is currently editor-at-large of Another Magazine.
Splendor in the Grass is composed of nine original songs and four covers, with songs in English, Neapolitan, Italian, French and Spanish. The album also features four guest stars: the legendary 90-year old Mexican ranchera singer–and one-time lover of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo–Chavela Vargas sings the Agustin Lara classic “Piensa En Mi;” Emilio Delgado aka “Luis” on the American children’s television show “Sesame Street” duets with China in a multi-lingual cover of Joe Raposo’s “Sing;” NPR justice correspondent Ari Shapiro makes his solo singing recording debut in “But Now I’m Back;” and Courtney Taylor-Taylor of the Dandy Warhols plays electric guitar on “Splendor In The Grass.”
“From start to finish, I loved working on this album,” says Lauderdale. “I honestly love it and could listen to it over and over. Each song is filled with references and back stories and adventures,” he continues. “Franz Schubert’s `Fantasy for Piano for Four Hands,’ for example, directly inspired two of the songs we wrote: `And Then You’re Gone’ sung by China Forbes and its companion piece `But Now I’m Back’ sung by Ari Shapiro, who during the day serves as justice correspondent for National Public Radio. `Tuca Tuca’–originally sung by the great Italian singer Rafaella Carra–features a sitar solo played by our bassist Phil Baker, performed on the actual sitar played by Peter Sellers in the 1968 film The Party. `New Amsterdam’–composed by the blind homeless composer Moondog (who dressed as a Viking and stood on Sixth Avenue in New York City for nearly three decades)–is, in my opinion, the most beautiful song ever written about New York. We found a most amazing choir of young people here in Portland called the Pacific Youth Choir to record the chorus. Meanwhile, the chorus at the end of `Sing’ is comprised of the office staff of Pink Martini, the Royal Blues of Grant High School in Portland (my alma mater) and the staff and friends of Portland Mayor Sam Adams. For me, this album is all about participating in the world…being part of it, being out in the street and finding the incredible beauty in the activities and unfoldings of every day.”