2010.07.15 Pink Martini rocks the house at Kaufleuten, Thursday July 15th

Imagine the most exquisite box of Xmas dark chocolates on a snowy winters day, you open the box but you find a surprise, perfection mixed with a few unwanted leftovers from the bottom of the Roses tin: this is Pink Martini. The pick and mix of 12+ musicians (or a bakers dozen at times) each squeeze themselves, into every crevice of the Kaufleuten centre stage. The piece de résistance is China (she does not need a surname), a magnificent creature.

She performs flawlessly in Arabic, Italian, Turkish and of course the most famous Je ne veux pas travailler. But my is she lucky as the band love their job and it shows, they lift her chords even if they cannot quite move. One wonders if they have ‘regular’ day jobs, and speculates what those might be: businessman on a train, Walt Disney character or underpaid DVD salesman. But the band have common ground,  and are all damn fine musicians. Forget the day jobs,  this is serious stuff!

Too many cooks did not spoil the broth in this delightful kitchen in Zürich… and the menu was definitely not set.

If you missed the concert, you can still catch their contageous sound on  their new album Splendor in the Grass  

-  Guest Reviewer Gaynor Dunraven and Roy Zuckerman.