Album Review: Wintersongs from Laila Biali

Album:  Wintersongs
Artist:  Laila Biali
Label:  Self-Released
Websites:  www.lailabiali.com
www.facebook.com/LAILABIALIMUSIC
www.instagram.com/lailabiali
www.x.com/lailabiali
www.tiktok.com/@lailabiali
www.youtube.com/lailabiali
https://lailabiali.bigcartel.com/product/wintersongs

Wintersongs is vocalist and pianist Laila Biali’s 10th recording as a bandleader.  Her first release in almost 2 years.  It is perceived as a proverbial love letter to winter.  The offering projects sonic images for the listener.  A sonic gala where the listener is caught in the midst of a breeze blowing across snow-capped mountains, floats above a field of whistling trees as they are jostled by nature's wind, cradled by the warmth of the sun's rays draping across rolling pastures.  Such images are pictured in the symphonic passages of Biali's music.

Starting the listening experience with "Drifting Down Ice," the soft and plush soundscape moves sleekly, knitting harmonic forms into creamy progressions as shimmering strings combine with Lori Gemmell's lilting harp, suspending the listener off the ground.  The blending of horns, strings and percussive instruments move like a collective, melding everyone into one body in motion.

Flutist-saxophonist Jane Bunnett rises above the dewy sound passages as she adds improvisational phrases and angelic sounding solos to both "Rocky Mountain Lullaby," described in the press release as "Biali’s ode to the majestic peaks of Banff National Park," and "Dance of the Pines," explained as "a sonic journey inspired by flora, fauna and the aurora borealis."  Bunnett's impressions glide blissfully, emoting euphoric sensations as Biali's lulling keys and gentle voicing intimate a warm tranquility along "Rocky Mountain Lullaby," while turning lamenting through "Dance of the Pines," as her keys serenade the listener tenderly.

Opulent strings are joined by willowy horns across "Prelude to Outside," creating an ethereal tapestry with picturesque soundscapes that elevate the aural senses.  The track leads into "Outside," adorned in wandering horns and trickling keys, building into swirls of dreamy vibrations as Biali's sedate voicing is partnered with Wade O. Brown's sensitive and fortified vocals, producing a romantic air.
 
The bluesy timbres of vocalists Joanna Majoko, Genevieve Marentette, and Jackson Welchner are hypnotic jutting across "Keep On Moving," driving into the intensity of the soaring strings projecting an urgency that sweeps the listener up into the whirlwind.  The symphonic pitch of the strings tingling across "Snow" sparkle with an ambient glow over the smooth serenity radiating from Biali's vocal resonance.

The warm sensations drizzling from Biali's keys are enhanced by the celestial fibers of Drew Jurecka's bandoneon, creating an irresistible solace through "Winter Waltz."  The disc concludes with "Jesus, He is Born" (Iesous ahatonnia’), noted in the press release as "a 17th-century carol first attributed to Jean de Brébeuf that most listeners will recognize as 'The Huron Carol'."  The track is twined in bristling keys garnished in billowing horns, propelled by trembling percussive rustles.

With funding support from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council, Biali and her team moved this project from concept to fruition. For more than 10 years, Alberta’s Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity has been a creative haven for Biali.  September 2024 marks 8 years that Biali has served as the host of CBC Music's national radio show, "Saturday Night Jazz," a weekly program broadcast to millions of listeners across Canada.  A veritable vessel of jazz influences, Laila Biali makes an indelible mark on the art form.

Musicians:
Laila Biali - vocals and piano
Ben Wittman -  drummer, percussion and co-producer
George Koller - bass
Rob Mathes Orchestra
Jane Bunnett - flute, soprano saxophone
Kevin Turcotte - trumpet
Sam Yahel - Hammond B3 organ
Wade O. Brown - harmony vocals
Lori Gemmell - harp
Joanna Majoko, Genevieve Marentette, Jackson Welchner - background vocals

Venuti String Quartet:
Drew Jurecka - violin, bandoneon and 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 and conducting
Scott Good - harp arrangement