By Andrew Poretz . . .
Canadian singer/songwriter and pianist Laila Biali first came to this reviewer’s attention at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) conference seven years ago. I’ve been enchanted ever since. The Juno Award-winning singer lived in New York for many years with her husband, drummer Ben Wittman, before the couple returned to Canada to raise their son, Joshua.
Biali performs both jazz and pop, and has a propensity for “reimagined” renditions of songs that often give them a new life, or at least a new perspective. The winsome singer is tall, with a long head of curly chestnut hair. She wore a gold lamé and black jacket over a short skirt.
Biali returned to Birdland Jazz for the early bird single set on March 9, accompanied by the excellent trio of bassist Matt Aronoff, tenor and soprano saxophonist John Ellis, and Wittman.
The set was an eclectic mix of standards, original compositions, and several surprising “Request-o-Matic” songs requested in advance by Biali’s fans. It was a quality set, though marred by sound issues with her mic volume, The volume was too low for all but her quietest songs, especially when she sang in her upper register, suggesting it might not have been the best mic for her voice. This made it challenging to discern the lyrics. At times, the drums overpowered Biali’s vocal entirely. Biali mentioned during her acknowledgements that it was only the sound engineer’s third gig at Birdland.
Laila opened with “Bye Bye Blackbird” (Jerome Renick/Mort Dixon), arranged in a stop-start fashion, her lyric phrasing almost teasing where the song might go next. The arrangement heavy on sax and drums. On “But Not For Me” (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin), from her samba album, she sang with just Wittman for the first four lines, an interesting choice.
The arrangement on “Pennies From Heaven” (Arthur Johnston/Johnny Burke) took an unusual, somewhat funky approach, with a progression that reminded me of the old Bob Newhart TV theme. The chord progression made the song nearly unrecognizable, as if it were a new song.
For “Autumn Leaves” (Joseph Kosma/Johnny Mercer), Biali’s piano opening suggested falling leaves. She sung it entirely rubato, before transitioning into Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” rubato through the first verse, then a kind of staggered rhythm with her trio. It was a unique approach to this rock classic made famous by Crosby, Stills & Nash. Biali’s voice on this unique here was soulful
Biali turned to several of her original tunes, including “Satellite,” a number with a catchy hook, written while she was alone on the road while Wittman was home caring for their son (the couple would take turns with music travel). “Got to Love,” about their time in Brooklyn, was her anthem for living in Prospect Heights.
On “Blame it On My Youth” (Oscar Levant/Edward Heyman), Biali created a complex, hypnotic effect, using chord changes that made the melody unrecognizable (which would probably be more appreciated by someone unfamiliar with the tune).
Biali pushed the envelope, reinterpreting modern pop songs like “Yellow” by Coldplay. Throughout “Yellow,” which was unfamiliar to this writer, she played an insistent single note with the right hand with great timing and consistency, like a metronome, for the entire song aside from the bridge. It was a beautiful piece. Her take on David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” was something like Sade singing Bowie. She acknowledged the spatial oddity of her choice for this venue. “I offer this up apologetically at Birdland Jazz Club.
Biali’s performance of another Joni Mitchell song, “A Case of You,” was especially beautiful and sensitive, singing in her lower register for added warmth.
For the only time in the set, Biali took center stage and sang with just bass accompaniment on “The Nearness of You” (Hoagy Carmichael/Ned Washington). This was her best singing of the night.
An encore song, the spiritual “Take Me Through the Alley” (Gregory Porter) was a first-time effort for the band, a “baptism by fire,” Biali quipped. Ellis’s tone on sax was very “David Sanborn.”
This was a warm, eclectic set by a fine singer, pianist and songwriter. Biali’s voice and musicianship are first-rate, as is her trio. For more information about Laila Biali, visit www.lailabiali.com.
Photos: Andrew Poretz