Thomas Lauderdale was raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana. He began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison. When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who to this day continues to serve as his coach and mentor. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and Oregon Ballet Theatre (where he collaborated with choreographer James Canfield and visual artists Storm Tharp and Malia Jensen on a ballet based on Felix Salten’s Bambi, written in 1923).

In 2008, he played Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini. Lauderdale returned as soloist with the Oregon Symphony in multiple concerts in 2011, and again in 2015, under the direction of Carlos Kalmar. In 2017, he and his partner Hunter Noack created and performed a dazzling, rhapsodic two-piano arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with choreographer Nicolo Fonte for Oregon Ballet Theatre.

Active in Oregon politics since a student at U.S. Read More...

China Forbes (vocals) was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she graduated cum laude from Harvard and was awarded the Jonathan Levy Prize for acting. She appeared in New York regional theatre and off-off Broadway productions, earning her Equity card alongside future stars of stage and screen such as Norm Lewis, Peter Jacobson and Rainn Wilson.

Soon after college China formed and sang with her first band. They regularly performed at NYC clubs CBGB’s Gallery, Mercury Lounge and Brownies. Her first solo album Love Handle was released in 1995 and she was chosen to sing “Ordinary Girl,” the theme song to the TV show Clueless.

In 1995, she was plucked from New York City by Harvard classmate Thomas Lauderdale to sing with Pink Martini, and has since written many of Pink Martini’s most beloved songs with Lauderdale, including “Sympathique,” “Lilly,” “Clementine,” “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love,” “Over the Valley” and “A Snowglobe Christmas,” which can be heard on Pink Martini’s holiday album Joy to the World. Her original song “Hey Eugene” is the title track of Pink Martini’s third album and many of her songs can also be heard on television and film. Read More...

Storm Large has been singing since the age of five. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, Large moved to San Francisco and later to Portland, where she founded her band Storm and The Balls. The Balls developed a cult-like following in clubs for their “mash up” renditions of artists such as ABBA, Billy Idol, Led Zeppelin and Olivia Newton-John as well as their own compositions. Storm Large shot to national prominence in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova, where, despite having been eliminated in the week before the finale, she built a fan base that follows her around the world to this day.

In 2007, she starred in Portland Center Stage’s production of Cabaret with Wade McCollum. The show was a smash hit, and earned Large glowing reviews. Her autobiographical musical memoir Crazy Enough played to packed houses in 2009 during its unprecedented 21-week sold-out run at Portland Center Stage. She went on to perform a cabaret version of the show to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Adelaide Festival in Australia, and Joe’s Pub in New York. Read More...

Internationally renowned bass player Phil Baker has been a member of Pink Martini since 2003, appearing with the band across the globe and alongside some of the most acclaimed symphony orchestras in North America. Having recorded on over one thousand jazz, rock, pop and blues albums, Baker is one of the West Coast’s premiere bass players. Baker toured with Diana Ross for nine years appearing with her on The Tonight Show and sharing the stage with her during her legendary concert, “Diana Ross – Live At Central Park.”

Baker has also performed with jazz legends Eddie Harris, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Stitt, Diane Schuur, Tom Scott, Les McCann and Ernie Watts among hosts of other revered musicians. He took the stage, playing bass at the prestigious Motown 25 with Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Linda Ronstadt. Baker has toured with Gino Vannelli and played on his Yonder Tree CD. Recently, Baker has appeared with Nat Adderley, Scott Hamilton and Joe Lovano. Baker, who has also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, HBO, American Music Awards and Winter Olympics productions, has taught hundreds of bass students and dozens of clinics. Read More...

Gavin Bondy began studying trumpet in Portland, Oregon, at the age of nine, and piano at the age of 12.  Years later, amidst the doubts of his peers, he began to quietly prove that he could make his entire living as a freelance performer in the city of Portland.  He played in every imaginable circumstance: wedding ceremonies, musical theater, foot races, national anthems, polka, mariachi, salsa, gospel, R&B, and funk, before joining Pink Martini in 1996.

A couple years later, Gavin founded The Shanghai Woolies.  To this day, the Woolies play hot jazz, blues, pop, and swing from the 1920’s to 40’s, employing electric guitars with the horns.  Gavin wrote the band’s music book by hand, in order to present some of the greatest music of the twentieth century to a world who had largely forgotten.  Among its highlights are 27 full-band transcriptions of early Louis Armstrong performances.

Gavin feels very grateful to have had such wonderful teachers, and very humbled to have performed with so many amazing musicians, including Diane Schuur, Al Andalus, Al Green, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The New York Philharmonic, The London Philharmonic, and The Cleveland Orchestra. Read More...

Pansy Chang is presently Associate Professor of Violoncello at Miami University of Ohio. She has performed in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Chamber Music Northwest, on Bob Sherman’s Listening Room – WQXR New York, and in both the Yale Spectrum Series and the Yale Faculty Artist Series in New Haven.  Concerto appearances include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, the Oregon Symphony, and regional orchestras in the Washington, DC and Portland metropolitan areas. Ms. Chang was awarded a Fulbright Grant for study in the United Kingdom, and was a semi-finalist in the 1993 Leonard Rose International Cello Competition. Read More...

Nicholas Crosa first appeared as a soloist at age 11 with the Portland Festival Symphony. His international debut occurred in 1996 when he performed a recital series as a guest of the Conservatory of Music of the City of Buenos Aires, in Argentina. He has since performed as a soloist with the Oregon Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Aspen Concert Orchestra, the Aspen Young Artists Orchestra, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, the Hilton Head Orchestra and other ensembles and chamber music recitals internationally. He was a scholarship student of the late Dorothy De Lay and Won Bin Yim at the Juilliard School in New York. Nicholas joined Pink Martini in 2005. Read More...

Brian Lavern Davis was raised in Portland, Oregon, and his musical studies have taken him to India, Japan, New York, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Brazil. His teachers include Jorge Alabe, Jose Ricardo Santos & Ballet Folklorico do Bahia, Colin Walcott, Michael Spiro, Keith Terry, Los Muñequitos de Mantanzas, Bruno Moraes, Alex Rangel, (both from Mocidades Indepente de Padre Miguel), Jorge Martins (Maracatu Estrella Brilhante de Recife), and Nana Vasconcelos. Brian is the founder (with Derek Rieth and Andrew Hartzell) and director of the Lions of Batucada, an ever growing forty-some member Brazilian dance & percussion ensemble, and formed and directs the “Ainsworth Jr. Escola,” a 117-member Portland youth samba bateria. He has toured and/or recorded with Herbie Hancock, Kalapana, Upepo, Obo Addy, Dub Squad, Dan Reed Network and the show “BataKetu” among many others. He teaches body percussion and samba throughout the Northwest as part of the Young Audiences of Oregon and Washington program, teaches each Summer at the California Brazil Camp (2005 – present), and conducts samba workshop/residencies for a variety of baterias across the world.

Brian proudly plays Latin Percussion (LP) instruments. Read More...

Ohio native Dan Faehnle was until recently based in Portland, OR and established relationships with such legendary jazz artists as Leroy Vinnegar, Chuck Israels, Dave Frishberg and Rebecca Kilgore. Beginning in 2000, Faehnle stepped into the guitar chair with Diana Krall, performing on numerous world tours, television shows, radio and media events. As an integral part of the Diana Krall quartet for three years, Dan garnered accolades from such publications as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, JazzTimes and Downbeat magazines, as well as many international publications. He continues to work with such noted musicians as Dr. Lonnie Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Delfeayo Marsalis. He has also worked with Eddie Harris, Clark Terry, Zoot Sims, and Jeff Hamilton.. His solo recordings include My Ideal and Ohio Lunch (Heavywood Music). Read More...

Timothy Nishimoto grew up in Los Angeles and started singing and performing at the age of two (winning a dance contest at the age of five!) in church choirs with his family. Throughout high school and college, he continued singing and performing in vocal jazz ensembles, barbershop quartets and theatrical productions. He graduated with a degree in Business from Cal State Long Beach, and opened Vino Paradiso Wine Bar & Bistro (now called Coppia www.CoppiaPortland.com) in Portland in 2005. In the early days of Pink Martini, he performed with the band as a guest vocalist, and has been a permanent member since 2003. Read More...

Robert Taylor grew up in Taylorville, Illinois, studied with almost every brass player of the Chicago Symphony and earned his degree in music from Northwestern University. He toured Europe with the American-Soviet Youth Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin and played with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival under Mstislav Rostropovich. Robert served as principal trombonist for the San Antonio Symphony for five years and currently divides his time between the Oregon Symphony and Pink Martini.

He has co-produced many of Pink Martini’s albums, including Hang on Little Tomato, 1969 – Pink Martini’s collaborative album with the legendary “Barbra Streisand of Japan” Saori Yuki – Get Happy, and Dream a Little Dream, a collaborative album with The von Trapps. He also helped to produce Storm Large’s new album Le Bonheur.

He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon. Read More...

Born in Lamia, Greece in 1981, Antonis Andreou studied trombone, piano, and music theory at the local music school and later went on to earn his degree from the Athens’ Conservatory “P.Nakas.”  He performs internationally with numerous groups in a variety of genres, leads his own jazz quintet, was a member of the European Jazz Orchestra 2008 and since 1999 has served as the lead trombonist of the Athens Big Band. He is a trombone teacher since 2007 at the Art Music School Y.Fakanas. 

Antonis has studied in with Marc Nightingale, Jiggs Whigham, Wycliffe Gordon, Jonas Bylund, Ingemar Roos and Scott Hartman among others. He has toured and recorded with several artists, bands and orchestras including: the Symphonic Orchestra of Athens, Camerata string Orchestra, Olympic Games Orchestra 2004, Anthony Jackson, Horacio el Negro Hernandez, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, Yiorgos Fakanas group, Mike Stern, Bob Franceschini, Tony Lakatos, Alex Foster, Jeff Tain Watts, Jeff Boudreaux, Mark Abrams, Jason Yard, Brett Garsed, Amik Querra, Jimmy Bosch, Rex Richardson, V Dimartino, Doretta Carter, Gloria Gaynor, Mikis Theodorakis, Dionisis Savvopoulous, Anna Vissi, E. Arvanitaki and many more…

Antonis joined Pink Martini in 2013, and is responsible for the killer whistling solo on “Pata Pata” on Je dis oui!  Read More...

Reinhardt Melz was born in Los Angeles, California and has been a resident of Portland,Oregon since the age of 9. At the age of 15, he started studying the drums with local legends Mel Brown,Israel Annoh, and Guy Maxwell, all the while under the guidance of stepfather/latin percussionist Bobby Torres. At the age of 17, Reinhardt started to work professionally as a drummer and was determined to get as good as possible and make a living as a freelance drummer/percussionist. In the last 27 years, he has done just that, becoming one of the top call drummers for several genres of music in the Portland area.
Amidst Reinhardt’s eclectic musical career, Reinhardt has shared the stage and/or recorded with notable artists such as Jeff Lorber, Earnestine Anderson, Buddy Guy, Earl King, Steve Miller, Les McCann, Javon Jackson, Shoshana Bean and Stevie Wonder.
   Currently Reinhardt can be seen touring with Gino Vannelli, Jarrod Lawson,and most recently with Pink Martini. Read More...

Kyle Mustain, English horn, began performing with Pink Martini in 2014. As a child raised in the great state of Texas, he was a fearless, intelligent, outspoken and self-determined ringleader who loved all kinds of music … from Slim Whitman to Rachmaninoff.  His mother often found him standing on plastic milk cartons, conducting.  At 11 he started playing French horn.  At 12, he discovered the oboe and the English horn.  

Kyle graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Richard Woodhams.  After receiving a Masters degree from Yale, Kyle moved to Brasil to join the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte for two years.  He has appeared or held positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony, among others, and he was principal English horn of the Sante Fe Opera for nine seasons.

Mustain was named Principal English Horn of the Oregon Symphony in 2010.  When he’s not painting or collecting Bonsai trees or watching British and Australian Parliament assemblies on Youtube, or teaching at Reed College, you might find him producing the next Pink Martini album or looking for exotic mushrooms with fellow members of the Mycological Society.   Read More...

Anthony Jones is the sixth of seven children and a native of Portland, OR. Growing up, various forms of music surrounded Anthony as his parents, Ruby & Eldon Jones, Sr., taught him to appreciate creativity and encouraged him to explore his gifts and talents. This inspired Anthony to follow his own dreams and music career.

Anthony explored his passion for music formally at Thomas Jefferson High School of the Performing Arts in Portland, OR. At Jefferson High, Anthony studied drums and trumpet, won numerous awards for his abilities and he began playing his first paying gigs at the age of 14. He performed in various bands and was cast to play trumpet in the film Mr. Holland’s Opus.

After high school, he attended Portland State University where he studied music and architecture. Anthony received his B.A. in Architecture in 2001. While studying at PSU Anthony worked with jazz pianist Darrell Grant (Professor of Jazz Studies at PSU), who mentored and helped groom Anthony for a career as a professional musician.

Anthony has also branched out to explore other facets of the music industry including producing, instructing, and product design & development. Read More...

Derek Rieth began his musical career focusing on Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian folkloric and popular drumming styles. His studies took him to Cuba, Brazil, New Orleans and New York. His teachers included Jorge Alabe, Boca “Rum” Bezerra, Regino Jiménez, Jesús Alfonso, Pello Gonzalez, Miguelito Bernal, Terecita Domé-Pérez, Michael Spiro, Scotty Wardinsky and Kpani Addy. In 1996, Derek, along with Brian Davis and Andrew Hartzell, co-founded the Lions of Batucada, a Brazilian-style percussion ensemble. Aside from his work with Pink Martini, Derek performed with Jujuba, GoGrinGoGo, and Free Beat Nation, a Marching Brass band in the style of Maracatu. In addition, he worked with Axe Dide, which presents music and dance traditions of the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Derek’s long struggle with bipolar disorder ended when he took his own life on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. Derek was a beloved son, brother, friend and colleague whose beautiful heart and passion for music touched thousands of lives. He will be deeply missed. To honor his memory, Derek’s girlfriend Tadimdia Bridges created the Derek Rieth Foundation to provide musical instruments and music education to underprivileged young people. Read More...