Hey Eugene! by Pink Martini (CD, May-2007, Heinz Records)

This Portland-based “little orchestra” has all but conquered the world with their first two albums of wry, danceable, globetrotting lounge-pop, and their third album is here to seal the deal! Led by accomplished pianist Thomas Lauderdale and the alluring vocals of China Forbes, the band charges through a set of 1920’s Hollywood-musical style numbers, with lots of groovy Latin percussion and songs sung in Japanese and Arabic along the way. It’s raucously fun music that fuses vintage sounds, world-music rhythms, modern dance-pop and hilarious storytelling (on the title track, a true story of a man that got away). Legendary jazz singer Jimmy Scott lends his eerie pipes to the closing track, “Tea for Two”). Have a Pink Martini for a good time!