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Pink Martini burst onto the music scene in 1994 with an unrehearsed, last-minute show at Cinema 21, opening for the Del Rubio Triplets. Since then, the band has electrified concertgoers worldwide, defying categorization and reinventing genres along the way. Fusing classical, jazz, swing, pop, and rumba, the band has become an industry. They’re about to embark on a worldwide tour to celebrate Pink Martini’s 30th anniversary.
Bandleader Thomas Lauderdale moved to Portland at age 12 and studied piano with teacher Sylvia Killman. From an early age, he showed extraordinary talent. But he was so much more than a piano player.
As a student at Grant High School (and later Harvard), he was active politically. As a young staffer for Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury, he worked to pass the city’s first civil rights ordinance. He threw himself into the fight against the sinister anti-gay Measure 13.
Lauderdale recruited some amazing musicians, including the powerful vocalist China Forbes, for the band’s debut album, Sympathique, released in 1997. It was an overnight sensation. The band quickly became an international phenomenon. In the decades that followed, the band has sold millions of albums and played with a dazzling array of stars from actress Rita Moreno to comedian Phyllis Diller to the cast of Sesame Street.
But perhaps Lauderdale’s most influential quality is as a connector. Unlike some stars, he is eager to share the spotlight. Go to one of his shows and you’ll hear him happily promoting other locals from jazz legend Mel Brown to surf-rockers Satan’s Pilgrims to the Multnomah County Library. His legendary parties feature a radically diverse mix of the city’s most interesting people.
And he’s never afraid to speak his mind. When we interviewed him for this feature on people who transformed Portland, he suggested that we include animal rights activist Paige Powell, “who stood outside the MAC club in the 1970s, insisting that women be given full voting membership.” Or the legendary arts leader William Jamison who co-founded First Thursday. Or even disgraced Portland Mayor Neil Goldschmidt (1973–79), whose reputation was shredded by the revelation by WW that he had for years sexually abused a teenage babysitter. “He inspired people to be better than they are. Nobody can deny what he and the staff he assembled accomplished in his eight years as mayor.”
Going forward, Lauderdale challenges Portland to build bridges with people who think differently. “Also,” he says, “can we just please have a little more beauty in this city?”
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