Hot combo

Thomas Lauderdale, pianist and leader of the band Pink Martini, darts around his spacious third-story loft, flipping through magazines from the 1950s and ‘60s, then spins discs by two of his eclectic inspirations: Miles Davis and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

“It’s hard to dance to this,” he says, as Davis’ discordant “Bitches Brew” echoes off brick walls papered with massive posters advertising the mid-century movies “La Dolce Vita” and “The Birds.”

Dusty stacks of records sit beside such curios as concrete lawn deer and a tin toy train. A black baby grand piano hunches in one corner.

“There’s a certain kind of romance that we connect to, which recalls the past,” Lauderdale says of Pink Martini. “But it’s also created with the heads of people living in the year 2004.”

Based in Portland, Pink Martini has won international accolades for its melding of jazz, classical, French cafe standards, and Afro-Cuban rhumba.

The 10-member combo regularly tours the European concert and party circuits, performs with symphony orchestras (including the Spokane Symphony in 1998, 1999 and 2002) and has been heard in such films as the Meg Ryan thriller “In The Cut” and the TV shows “The Sopranos” and “The West Wing.”

“It changes gear all the time,” says Pink Martini collaborator Norman Leyden, who recently retired as associate conductor of the Oregon Symphony. “There’s a little smattering of big band and a little smattering of Latin, then something unusual.”

Founded a decade ago, Pink Martini boasts a fan base that ranges from Hollywood celebrities and hipsters to high school students. The band’s 1997 debut album, “Sympathique,” has sold 646,000 copies in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Lauderdale says Pink Martini’s long-awaited sophomore effort, “Hang On Little Tomato” (released Tuesday), reflects the music’s evolution from a campy send-up of swingers and cocktail shakers to a more sincere examination of life, love and beauty.

“We’ve all been through a lot,” he says, “and still we find hope and optimism in these tiny little moments of happiness.”

It’s those moments of happiness and the struggles that go with them that the 34-year-old Lauderdale and his band examine in “Hang On.”

A classical pianist who frequently solos with the Oregon Symphony, Lauderdale formed Pink Martini as a last-minute opening act for a political benefit. The combo was an instant hit.

“It was fun – sort of a super-celebratory kind of cocktail atmosphere,” says Lauderdale, who wore little black dresses to some of the band’s early gigs. “It was just all about being fabulous and like a character from ‘Auntie Mame’ or ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s.’ “

“Sympathique,” a playful first album, was heralded by The New Yorker as “breathtaking.” Released on the independent label Heinz Records, the album featured such standards as “Brazil,” “Que Sera, Sera,” and a version of Ravel’s “Bolero.”

“The band moves gracefully between such genres as Cuban rumbas and French cafe tunes,” The New Yorker said in a brief review. “Vocalist China Forbes is captivating, and Lauderdale’s piano keeps the passionate rhythm section in line.”

Variety magazine wrote: “Impressive at every musician’s station, the ensemble produces music that’s charming and elegant.”

“Hang On Little Tomato” was inspired by a 1964 ketchup ad depicting a small tomato clinging to the vine.

Lauderdale wrote most of the songs on “Hang On” with vocalist Forbes, whose sultry voice shines in numbers like “Aspettami,” a jazz tune sung in both Italian and English, and the haunting Croation song “U Plavu Zoru (In the Blue Dawn).”

“We didn’t want to be a cover band,” said Forbes, 34, who met Lauderdale while the two were studying humanities at Harvard University.

“It really flip-flopped from being a band that did familiar songs with a few originals to doing originals with a few obscure covers.”

With gigs at the Kennedy Center, the Hollywood Bowl and the opening of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Pink Martini has acquired a reputation as a chic, sophisticated band. When the ensemble played the Cannes Film Festival party circuit in 1998, Ringo Starr and Elton John joined them for a few numbers and Sharon Stone danced onstage.

Lauderdale says Portland’s easy pace, affordability and thriving music scene suits the band.

“My daily life isn’t, ‘Oh my God, I have to make a whole bunch of money in order to eat or stay on top of it,’ ” he says. “It’s not New York. It’s certainly not Los Angeles.”

Several band members have roots in Oregon. Trumpet player Gavin Bondy and pianist Brian Davis grew up in Portland, and nearly all in the ensemble have played for the Oregon Symphony or another Portland band.

Lauderdale, who attended Grant High School in Portland, joined the symphony after winning the statewide Corbett Competition at age 15. He plays jazz, Latin and classical music with the symphony and appears in concerts with the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

“He’s just one of our little treasures in Portland,” says Doree Jarboe, director of vocal music at Grant High. The school’s select 32-member choir, the Royal Blues, provides background music on “Hang On.”

A choir from Portland’s Jefferson High School appears on Pink Martini’s upcoming third album, tentatively titled “Hey Eugene.”

Despite the band’s reputation in the United States and overseas, Lauderdale says Pink Martini’s main goal is to lure ordinary people out of their homes and into concert halls with “a beautiful melody and beautiful lyrics.”

“It’s not a snooty, self-congratulatory set of mazes,” he says. “It’s really accessible to anyone.”