Pink Martini

Pink Martini

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Keith Bruce

MAKING their first ever visit to Edinburgh, it is thrillingly profound (and not either "surreal" or in any way kitsch) to see the Von Trapp siblings - Sofi, Melanie, Amanda and August - performing with Thomas Lauderdale's superb band. Direct descendents of the family whose escape from wartime Austria inspired The Sound Of Music - their grandfather is the "Kurt" of the Julie Andrews musical - they wear their status as living history lightly, a highly skilled close-harmony quartet whose repertoire is eclectic and delicious, mixing awareness of their tradition with fine new songs, and endearingly far from slick in its presentation.

When Portland, Oregon, pianist and musical director Lauderdale and his vocal foil China Forbes (revelling in her own ancestral roots in Aberdeen) take the stage, the show overtakes mere professionalism and heads into any territory the band leader feels like exploring, glued together by casually improvised cabaret. Pay attention and you might note that the first few numbers echo the Von Trapp family's experience of the 1930s with examples of the comparative hedonism of the US in the same era. But equally you may become one of the 30-strong audience chorus line that joins the band onstage, or the queue leaving requests on hand-written notes at Lauderdale's feet.

Of the cast of many on Pink Martini's Get Happy album, Ari Shapiro is the star guest here of a total of almost 20 musicians involved, of whom as many as five are often deployed on percussion. As anyone who has had fun in a recording studio knows, such details make an ensemble sound of the quality of Pink Martini. We should be thankful Lauderdale is not an evil genius intent on world domination. We'd be powerless.