The Pink Room
Rondi Marsh

Liner Notes
By Kabir Sehgal

There is nothing more joyful and bittersweet than falling in and out of love. One day you’re seeing the stars, the next you’re cursing the darkness. Rondi Marsh’s “Pink Album” is the soundtrack for modern love and the full range of emotions that it stirs in our hearts and minds. Graceful, poised, and enchanting, Rondi delivers a rousing and first-rate performance, breathing new life into vintage, classy tunes that will make you hear them afresh and anew.

“Flamingo,” the famed jazz standard, begins with a gentle and colorful flute solo by Wouter Kellerman, giving way to Rondi’s lush voice that fills each register with gravity and heart. Though she sings about a flamingo flying like a plane, it’s truly her voice that soars above the rest. “Misty” is an upbeat rendition of the 1954 composition by Erroll Garner in which Rondi and the violin have a thoughtful musical interchange. “Boy on a Dolphin” is originally from the 1957 romantic film Greece in which the statue of a Greek boy is featured prominently. On this song, Rondi sings poignantly about how love is an article of belief, which can turn even inanimate objects into those deserving our attention. “Slow Hot Wind” and “Slap That Bass” are two standards that feature Rondi’s breadth, both musically and stylistically, as she doesn’t just sing these songs but inhabits them, infusing them with personal experience and emotional depth.

You can’t but help tap your foot to the vivid “Mambo Italiano” or sway to the sensual “Angel Eyes.” Yet it is “Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots” that will have you grinning from ear-to-ear. A duet with “Wanz,” the rendition is exquisite with the forward-pulsing rhythms, as if you can hear the traffic bustling down the expressway – next stop love (or heartbreak)! “Walk On Over” is Rondi’s original composition, a well-crafted blues, with rich harmonies and a “gypsy jazz” aesthetic that she describes as a “flirtatious fun song.” That it is, and the unfolding story makes you listen intently, curious as to whether the hide-and-seek of romance will reveal itself in full. “Last Call” is an appropriate ending track as Rondi sings about that lonely feeling that absorbs and inflicts us all, as we wait on someone we love or wish to love. It’s a tasteful and refined song that paints an affecting and nostalgic feeling.

Gorgeous and grand, beautiful and bittersweet, The Pink Room will envelop you with Rondi’s sophisticated mind and supersized heart. A dazzling and brilliant production.

–Kabir Sehgal
New York Times bestselling author
Multi-Grammy Award Winner