Over the course of three superb albums that have sold more than two million copies worldwide, Portland, Oregon's mucho-eclectic outfit Pink Martini have served as international music tour guides imbuing a diverse collection of unpredictable influences ranging from Latin infused sambas, 30's orchestrated standards, Cuban jazz and lounge-y torch ballads. ”I'd call our music old fashioned pop with a global perspective,” says pianist and co-founder Thomas Lauderdale, who is also the band leader. “It has that feeling of the atmosphere of the 30s, 40s, 50s, early 60s, but global in scope.”

On their forthcoming fourth album Splendor In the Grass (October 27), Lauderdale, vocalist China Forbes and the 15-year-old "little orchestra" again serve up 13-course musical meal of exotic flavors, a project that they say is decidedly "upbeat and optimistic". There's a certain amount of chic whimsy at play when a sitar solo livens up the playful "Tuca Tuca" or Wordsworth poetry, a Tchaikovsky piano concerto and the melody from the theme from an old Clint Eastwood film get tossed together -- and that's just in one song, the album's title track. Fun and smartly, delightfully frivolous, Spendor is, simply, splendid.

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Pink Martini - "Tuca Tuca" (from the album Splendor In the Grass)

Pink Martini - "Splendor In the Grass" (Live on KCRW) (from the album Splendor In the Grass)

Thomas Lauderdale and China Forbers of Pink Martini  Photo: Sheri Diteman