Pink Martini and Chris Isaak headline separate shows at Chateau Ste. Michelle this week.
Vocalist China Forbes and pianist Thomas Lauderdale’s Pink Martini is a little orchestra-lounge band that might combine Cuban dance music, romantic French ballads and cinematic themes on any given night.
They don’t rush albums, either, debuting in 1997 with “Sympathique” and following it up in 2004 with “Hang on Little Tomato.”
Chris Isaak has been nominated for two Grammy awards, acted in movies and starred in his own TV series. He can range from rockabilly to crooner, acoustic storyteller to cover artist with Cheap Trick’s power-pop anthem “I Want You to Want Me.”
Grant-Lee Phillips: His “nineteeneighties” album is an acoustic interpretation of Phillips’ favorite cover songs. He performs Tuesday in Seattle. Phillips fronted the critically acclaimed folksy rock band Grant Lee Buffalo in the ’90s, and Rolling Stone magazine named him Best Male Vocalist in 1995. Phillips appears periodically on TV’s “The Gilmore Girls” as the troubadour, and composed the score for “What About Brian.”
Daby Toure: The multi-instrumentalist grew up in small African villages and, although his father was a musician, he discouraged his son from following that path, stressing education instead. But when his brothers offered him a spot in their band, the gentle-voiced musician jumped at the chance. He performs his original goes-beyond-African-roots music Thursday in Seattle.
Stanley Jordan: The guitarist has made significant contributions to the guitar world. He’ll perform Tuesday through July 30 in Seattle. Jordan favors the touch or tapping technique that can make it sound as if he’s playing two or three guitars at once. Although he inherited the techniques, Jordan has refined them, leading some to call him the first “touch virtuoso.”
Nils: Contemporary jazz-funk guitarist Nils, best known for last year’s CD “Pacific Coast Highway,” performs Monday in Seattle. The title track held the top spot for 13 weeks on radio in the smooth jazz category and became the most-played smooth jazz song in the U.S. and Canada in 2005.
Nicolai Dunger: The Swedish singer-songwriter is beginning to carve a niche for himself with his acoustic ballads that fit many genres. He performs tonight in Seattle. He’s sometimes slotted into alt-country but that’s not a good fit for his chamber pop, ballads and rockers. He also takes risks: 81/2-minute “The Year of the Love and Hurt Cycle” and CD title: “Here’s my song, you can have it … I don’t want it anymore. /Yours 4-ever.”
Os Mutantes: Once at the center of the Tropicalia movement in Brazil in the late ’60s, the eclectic band often irked traditionalists with humor and musical combinations. Think psychedelic pop with bossa nova. Os Mutantes performs on Wednesday in Seattle.
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