Credits:

Laila Biali

Description:

This is the first collection of standards Laila Biali has completed after soliciting requests from fans. Featuring Kurt Elling, Katie George, Anat Cohen, and others.Canadian singer/songwriter/pianist Laila Biali, who has won numerous awards in recent years, including the 2019 Juno Award for Best Vocal Album and the 2022 SOCAN Songwriting Award, The first standards album of her career is now complete. Although she has sung standards on many of her previous albums, for this project, she solicited more than 150 requests from her followers on social networking sites and recorded her own arrangements of songs from them.Lila's intimate vocals and piano are a perfect fit for "Autumn Leaves," while Kelly Jefferson's soprano sax adds a superb accent; "My Favorite Things," with its imaginative arrangements that shift from contemporary jazz to Latin to groove and Larnell Lewis' dynamic drums; "Blame It on My Youth," with its famous performance by the Frank Sinatra and Keith Jarrett Trio; and "The Burning of the Heart," with its dynamic drumming by Larnell Lewis and Lila's voice and piano. My Favorite Things" with its imaginative arrangement that changes from contemporary jazz to Latin to groove and the dynamic drumming of Larnell Lewis; "Braeme It on My Youth," famously performed by the Keith Jarrett Trio; "Pennies from Heaven," a favorite of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby; "Corcovado," by A.C. Jobim; and "Hogie," by Hoagy. Corcovado", Hoagy Carmichael's "Nearness of You", and many others. The featured artists include Kurt Elling, one of the best male vocalists of our time, Katie George, who has been attracting attention for her lush vocals, Emily Clare Barlow, a Canadian female vocalist with a large fan base, Anat Cohen, one of the leading clarinetists in contemporary jazz, and Chromatic Clarinetist Anat Cohen, and chromatic harmonica virtuoso Gregor Malle.Members are Lila Biali (vo, p, arr), Kelly Jefferson (ts, ss), George Koller (b), Larnell Lewis (ds), Ben Whitman (ds).