Pink Martini
Pink Martini plays Woodland Park Zoo tonight and tomorrow night CHRIS HORNBECKER

Pink Martini’s name fits them like a Mousquetaire glove. They’re slinky yet robust, fluffy and flamboyant while also exotic and classily tasteful. Portland’s self-styled little orchestra, maestro’d by pianist Thomas Lauderdale, flits through different moods in music that is rooted in jazzy big band, classical, and classic pop realms, but is also heavy on richly exotic sounds and evokes a range of global locales; both the multi-lingual lyrics and the richly textured instrumentals touch on Latin, Japanese, French, Italian, and several other non-American sonicscapes.

China Forbes and Storm Large share lead vocal duties now—Large started as a temporary replacement for Forbes while the latter underwent vocal surgery in 2011, but joined the band as co-lead singer in 2013— and they front an ensemble that is more than a dozen members strong. Currently, they're on the road celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sympathique (and the special edition release of it that dropped earlier this year).

Pink Martini plays two consecutive dates in Seattle, tonight and tomorrow night, at Woodland Park Zoo as part of its ZooTunes Summer Concerts series. Check out some songs below, if you need more convincing about why you should go...