Meet Pink Martini time! Bulgarian trumpeter Mihail Iossifov (to us he’s “Misho”) has been lending his bright copper-toned trumpeting acrobatics to Pink Martini since 2014. Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Misho picked up the trumpet at a young age and studied jazz performance at the National Music College in Sofia. Since graduation, he has been in high demand as a stage and studio musician across Europe, and also is an accomplished arranger and composer. We feel darn lucky that he chooses to make time for us in his overflowing calendar. Our primary trumpeter in Europe (and sometimes beyond), Misho was introduced to us by his friend, Pink Martini trombonist Antonis Andreou, and these two powerhouse horn players are the dynamic duo of our band, dazzling our global audiences with their exploits for the better part of a decade. We hope we can convince them to tour with us for many decades more!
1. If you could have seen any musician in concert, dead or alive, who you never got to see live, who would it be?

I would like to see a concert of Louis Armstrong

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photo credit: Chris Murray Productions https://www.chrismurrayproductions.com/

Pink Martini percussionist Miguel Bernal is a living encyclopedia of Cuban rhythms and folklore; at his grandmother’s side, Miguel developed a love for Lucumi (aka Santaria) traditions and rhythms. For twenty years he was the principal percussionist for “Raices Profundas,” a folkloric dance company that was a cultural ambassador from Cuba to the rest of the world. He has also for many years been an influential teacher at universities and music camps throughout the US. Somehow, like so many others in our sprawling musical family, Miguel, whose talent had long been respected by Pink Martini’s percussion section, ended up living in Portland, and came to the attention of our bandleader Thomas Lauderdale. Before he knew it, in late 2015, he was swept up into our band, and has been touring with us ever since. In addition to providing deeply rooted rhythms on hand percussion, Miguel also charms our live audiences as lead singer on our cover of the classic Ernesto Lecuona ballad “Yo te quiero siempre,” which is a staple of our concerts. Miguel is based in the US, but he spends as much time as he can with his family in Cuba, where he is still revered as one of the most sought after Bataleros (player of the sacred bata drums) from Havana. Read More...

One of Pink Martini’s unsung heroes, Greg Tamblyn has been our tour manager since 2016, though to him it probably feels more like two decades. In addition to keeping everything running smoothly on the road, and ensuring that each performance is a success, Greg also makes all of the complex travel decisions and arrangements for our tours. Tour managing a band has been described as “herding cats,” but it’s probably more akin to herding hyper-caffeinated rabbits. Through it all, Greg manages to keep an incredibly steady demeanor and serene air of calm, no matter what the crisis. And with a traveling contingent of 18-20 musicians and crew, a new crisis is always just around the corner. The best sign that he’s great at his job? The band never even gets a whiff of 99% of those near-calamities, and can ride the tour buses in comfort looking forward to the next amazing show.

Greg was born in Ithaca, New York, but moved west with his family and ended up in Beaverton High School (in the Portland suburbs), where he fell in love with theater, a passion that would ultimately set the course of his life. Read More...

Brian Davis has rhythm not just in his soul, but in every single red blood cell in his body. Check out Webster’s latest dictionary and you just might find his picture next to the entry for percussionist; he is just that quintessential. A Portland native and one of the very earliest members of Pink Martini, Brian has been performing on a myriad of different rhythm instruments with Pink Martini on the road and on record since 1995. He has a voracious appetite for music and has traveled around the world in pursuit of his studies, working with legendary teachers from Jorge Alabe to Michael Spiro to Nana Vasconcelos (and many more). But it’s perhaps the Brazilian beat that has entranced him the most. Along with our late percussionist Derek Rieth, Brian is the co-founder and director of the Lions of Batucada, a Brazilian percussion and dance ensemble that has often collaborated with Pink Martini. He also teaches body percussion and samba workshops in public schools across the country, in addition to being a mainstay at California Brazil Camp. He is currently riding out the pandemic in his beloved second home nation, Brasil. Read More...

Notably from Taylorville, Illinois (where clearly he must have been a part of the royal family), Robert Taylor has been an integral part of Pink Martini both on and off the concert stage since the band’s earliest days. He’s done nearly everything possible for this band for over two decades… writing songs such as “Dansez-Vous” and “The Flying Squirrel,” co-producing several of our studio albums with Thomas Lauderdale, creating arrangements and horn charts, and just generally being one of Thomas’s and China’s closest musical confidants and consultants. And his brother Steve, a professor at the University of Illinois, is our primary orchestrator! What a family. Anchoring the horn section for years with our trumpeter Gavin Bondy, Robert’s “day job” in the trombone section of the Oregon Symphony keeps him from touring with us full time, but, rest assured, his fingerprint is solidly etched into the sound of our little orchestra, whether he is on stage with us or not.

A graduate of Northwestern University, Robert toured Europe with the American-Soviet Youth Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, and played with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival under Mstislav Rostropovich. Read More...

Pink Martini’s European Tour Manager Manu Kerinec somehow manages to wrangle our large band and crew through the complicated and often sleepless logistics of a multi-national European concert tour, while still keeping his cool in the most stressful situations, all the while with a big smile on his face. Despite all of that responsibility, he’s the most popular person on the tour bus; it’s kind of a miracle. He’s also a talented production manager, choreographing risers rolling across the stage while making sure our dressings rooms are stocked with our favorite vittles. Basically, he can do everything.

Born at the foot of the Alps in a nice seaside town called Nice, Manu grew up in a musical family and first hit the road on tour tagging along with his older brother’s band at the ripe young age of 14. He has been crashing in tour bus bunks ever since. First joining Pink Martini’s crew a decade ago, he is one of the busiest men in show business, with a calendar littered with worldwide tours with numerous celebrated bands, including Israel Vibration, Souad Massi, and Rhinocerose. Read More...