Pink Martini Stirs a Strong Mix of Pop Stylings

You know you’re at a different kind of pop show when the band begins with a languorous version of Ravel’s “Bolero” and the audience hums along with the hypnotic, lilting melody.

Then again, Portland’s Pink Martini is not your average band. On Friday at the El Rey Theatre (the first of the group’s two nights there), its delightful jukebox of lounge stylings encapsulated all the elements that make old-fashioned pop such an appealing genre--including its ability to ground us and comfort us. That quality might be the chief reason the music has returned to popularity at the end of the century.

Led by Harvard graduate Thomas M. Lauderdale, the 10-piece group offers a kaleidoscopic menu of sounds, from kitsch favorites such as “Que Sera, Sera” to cult gems such as the jazzy, mist-filled theme to the Japanese movie “Black Lizard.” The group’s own compositions strive to achieve the effect of film composers Henry Mancini, John Barry and Nino Rota, and they often succeed, as in the oh-so-French “Sympatique.”

Although pianist Lauderdale is by far the group’s most technically impressive performer, his skillful musicians clearly understand his warped aesthetic. But Pink Martini’s greatest asset is multilingual chanteuse China Forbes, as worthy a successor of Julie London as this unglamorous decade has produced.