The Splendor of Pink Martini

Mixing infectious enthusiasm with world-weary self-awareness, Pink Martini comes to Seattle Friday (all the way from Portland), on tour for their latest album, Splendor in the Grass (taken from a line in the poem by Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality). "Nothing can bring back the hour / Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower." Sigh.

"Je ne veux pas travailler," sings the zaftig China Forbes, the anthem of a Gen Xer who just wants work to be over so she can get a smoke. (A big hit in the US, an even bigger hit in France, where it was originally performed by Edith Piaf.) You could hear that same irony on the next album, "Hang On Little Tomato," as well. By then, Pink Martini had become iconic: lush orchestrations, razor-sharp lyrics, tightly disciplined performances.

Harvard grad Thomas Lauderdale, spiky blond hair and all, put the group together to play at fundraisers for progressive political causes; he hit just the right note of yearning and self-control, a Big Band for our times. This Friday, the band is the entire Seattle Symphony, directed by associate conductor Joseph Crnko.

Pink Martini at Benaroya Hall, 8 PM, Tickets $35 to $120.