For Your Consideration
BEST TRADITIONAL
POP VOCAL ALBUM
"Wintersongs"
Listen to Wintersongs
BEST ARRANGEMENT, INSTRUMENTS AND VOCALS
"Rocky Mountain Lullaby"
Drifting Down Ice
*Rocky Mountain Lullaby
Prelude to Outside
Outside
Keep on Moving
Snow
Dance of the Pines
Winter Waltz (Belle nuit de Noël, instrumental)
Jesus, He is Born (Iesous ahatonnia’, instrumental)
Three years in the making, Laila Biali's JUNO nominated album Wintersongs offers a cinematic set of winter-themed originals that feature multi JUNO-winner & GRAMMY-nominee Jane Bunnett, the Venuti String Quartet and chamber orchestra conducted by the Emmy winner & GRAMMY nominee Rob Mathes (Bruce Springsteen, Sting). Following the release of her critically acclaimed jazz standards album, Your Requests, Biali returns with a fresh set of music composed from a serene cabin surrounded by snow-capped mountains during a writing retreat in the heart of Canada’s Rocky Mountains. It is Biali's musical love letter to winter, praised by NUVO Magazine for its “endless range of sonic offerings and interpretations of winter…with the warmth and grandeur of the orchestra that captures the season so profoundly."
Multi award-winning singer-songwriter, pianist and CBC national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City's Carnegie Hall to Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, and supported international icon Sting. Biali's past four consecutive releases – Wintersongs (2024), Your Requests (2023), Out of Dust (2020), and Laila Biali (2018) – all received JUNO Award nominations (Canada's GRAMMY) and won her the 2019 JUNO Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. In 2020 Biali was honoured by SOCAN Music with the Hagood Hardy Award for Excellence in Songwriting, following her 2018 win at the Canadian Songwriting Competition for Best Song (Jazz). Biali was the youngest-ever double winner at Canada’s National Jazz Awards, named SOCAN Composer of the Year + Keyboardist of the Year. When Biali isn’t on stage she’s busy hosting CBC Music’s national radio show, Saturday Night Jazz. Biali's signature sound transcends genre, making her a favourite among audiences globally.
“Masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy.”
– The Washington Post
"Biali provides the positive, come-together messaging we need in these challenging times.”
– Parade Magazine
"It is the ultimate task given to the musician, whether as singer or instrumentalist, to create a unique signature or fingerprint that is instantly recognisable as their own. What is surprising and delightful in Laila Biali is that both as vocalist and pianist she accomplishes this with equal aplomb. She is an exciting and unique talent, and I admire her greatly."
– Sting
All songs written by Laila Biali, except tracks 3 (Rob Mathes) & 9 (arr. Biali)
Laila Biali - vocals, piano
George Koller - acoustic bass
Ben Wittman - drums, percussion
Jane Bunnett - flute, soprano sax
Kevin Turcotte - trumpet
Lori Gemmell - harp
Sam Yahel - Hammond B3 organ
Wade O. Brown, Joanna Majoko, Genevieve Marentette, Jackson Welchner - additional vocals
Venuti String Quartet
Drew Jurecka - violin, bandoneon (8), quartet arrangements
Rebekah Wolkstein - violin
Shannon Knights - viola
Amahl Arulanandam - cello
Chamber Orchestra
Violins: Rebekah Wolkstein, Drew Jurecka, Shane Kim, Boris Kupesic, Sydney Chun, Bethany Bergman, William Lamoureux, Nancy Kershaw, Aya Miyagawa, Erika Raum, Stephen Sitarski
Violas: Shannon Knights, Diane Leung, Rory McLeod, Nicholaos Papadakis
Cellos: Amahl Arulanandam, Naomi Barron, Lydia Munchinsky, Kevin Fox
Rob Mathes - string orchestrations, conducting
Scott Good - harp arrangement
Basics recorded at Canterbury Music Company by Julian Decorte
Strings recorded at Revolution Recording Studios by John ‘Beetle’ Bailey, assisted by Luke Schindler
Flute and soprano sax recorded at Revolution Recording Studios by Stephen Koszler
Vocals and percussion recorded at Wittman Productions by Ben Wittman
Background vocals and harp recorded at Phase One Studios by Mike Smith