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UPC: 779913130523

1969’s title refers to the year of Saori Yuki’s debut as a recording artist. Over the past four-plus decades, the Japanese pop legend's sweetly elegant vocal stylings have won her a worldwide legion of fans, among them the Portland, Ore.–based retro-pop outfit Pink Martini. The band’s collaboration with Yuki is an obvious labor of love, filled with the sort of breezy yet heartfelt charm that she's made her trademark. Singing in Japanese, French, and English, she's framed by PM’s Thomas Lauderdale in billowing arrangements that mix lounge jazz with ‘60s-style pop and Latin sounds. Yuki strolls through the dreamy atmosphere of “Du Soleil Plein Les Yeux” and savors the delicate ache within “Wasuretainoni.” with a serene yet bittersweet air. Reaching further, she connects with the soft Brazilian pulse of “Mayonaka No Bossa Nova” and “Mas Que Nada” and taps into the quiet desperation of the Peggy Lee classic “Is That All There Is?" She draws on her talents as an interpreter of Japanese children’s songs in her honeyed version of “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”

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