Pink Martini and Storm large will perform for one night only at Knight Concert Hall on Thursday, March 8. (Photo courtesy of Pink Martini)
Taking the stage in a performance as big as her name, Storm Large says being the lead with Pink Martini means playing alongside a band that’s equally bold and expressive.
“The thing with Pink martini is, it's a band and there's a singer, but it's not about the singer.” she says. ”They're all soloists.”
She ticks off the names of the musicians.“It's me, it's Jimmy Harrod singing, Edna Vasquez singing, Timmy Mishimoto singing, and dancing. Everybody's doing solos. Everybody plays percussion and it's just a party.”
Pink Martini brings its genre defining sound to Miami for one night only at the Adrienne Arsht Center on Thursday, March 5.Founded in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale, the Portland-based “little orchestra” has gathered an international following with its fusion of jazz, classical, Latin and retro pop, performed in more than 20 languages.
Large has collaborated with the ensemble since 2011 and is currently stepping in for longtime lead singer China Forbes while she takes a sabbatical.
"I'm back to lead singing with Pink Martini, which is great." Storm says. "I've been doing it off and on for 15 years. I love those guys."
Storm Large is a musician filling in for lead vocalist China Forbes during Pink Martini's upcoming tour. (Photo by Todd Huffman)
She applauds the band for their talents, explaining what it's like to perform alongside musicians she can completely trust.
“They are ballers. They are badass, and we all respect each other. There's no lame duck on the stage that we have to kind of hold up . . . We're entertaining the audience as much as we're entertaining each other.”
As someone who also fronts her own band, performing with Pink Martini offers Large a collaborative experience that brings out a performance in her that is different from when she performs with her band.
“My shows with my band are like a narrative, like a one-woman show, that there's a narrative that I'm presenting through music and through story. And Pink Martini, it's an energetic conversation that I participate in.”
She reveals that since she’s been performing with Pink Martini for some time, there’s an intuitive sense of knowing when she is to turn it up, or when to turn it down.
“I have an energetic sort of Kelvin meter,” she says. “When I’m in the front doing my thing, I go up there, set it ablaze, and then I’m like, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to center stage, Edna Vasquez!’ I hug her, go to the back, sit down, and clap for her, watching in awe because she’s a goddess.”
Pink Martini is known for a track list that features multiple languages like French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, even Farsi, Arabic, or Turkish. But Large says the secret is that it’s actually easier for the brain to memorize lyrics in other languages.
While it was difficult for her to get used to at first, it was those multilingual songs that helped Pink Martini build a global fanbase, and a big moment for the singer.
She recalls a moment when she became the first American to ever chart in Romania through the song “Pân când nu te iubeam” The band performed the Romanian song in the tiny town of Cluj, playing in a high school auditorium in a community still recovering from decades of control under Russia and Germany.
Storm Large performing with Pink Martini at a recent performance. (Photo courtesy of Pink Martini)
“The moment we started that song, you could hear a pin drop. I got through the first verse into the first instrumental break, and the place exploded, screaming, howling, people wept and cheered, then held their breath when I started to sing again.”
Large emphasizes the power of music to transcend borders: “It was the most palpable proof that music and art are a stronger act of diplomacy than anyone in a suit coming and talking about your power plant. Singing, honoring the culture of a country that’s been so beat up, and saying, ‘Hey, we love this music, we love you, and we love your culture, and we’re here to honor that,” that was something unforgettable.”
For Storm Large, performing with Pink Martini is just another way to use her loud voice to command the spotlight, or stepping back to lift others into it. And the result is a performance as expansive as her name.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Storm Large performing with Pink MartiniWHEN: 8 p.m., Thursday, March 8
WHERE: Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami
TICKETS: $52.65- $157.95
INFORMATION: arshtcenter.org
