{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Thomas Lauderdale on Pink Martini & Building a 'United Nations of Sound'","description":"Behind Pink Martini\u2019s unmistakable sound is a simple idea: music can bring people together across cultures. In this episode of Full Expression, host Dan Imhoff sits down with Thomas Lauderdale\u2014pianist, bandleader, and artistic director of Pink Martini, the \u201clittle orchestra\u201d that blends classical, jazz, pop, and world music into a style that feels both timeless and global. Thomas traces the unlikely path that led him to the band. Raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana, he began piano lessons at six and later studied history and literature at Harvard, originally planning a career in politics. But in 1994, while working on a political campaign in Portland, he started a small band to play fundraisers for progressive causes. What began as a festive antidote to dreary political events slowly grew into Pink Martini\u2014a genre-defying ensemble that now performs around the world with songs in more than 25 languages. Thomas shares the philosophy behind the band: treating music as hospitality, learning songs in the languages of the countries they visit, and creating what he describes as a kind of \u201cUnited Nations of sound.\u201d The conversation also explores the creative process behind Pink Martini\u2019s recordings\u2014from recording live on tape and chasing the \u201cmagical accident\u201d in the studio to building a musical family that has stayed vibrant for more than three decades.     ","author_name":"Full Expression","author_url":"http:\/\/www.fullexpressionpodcast.com","html":"