Podcast 797: Talking Ballads and Love Songs with Laila Biali

For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to do something different. Most year's I post an hour plus of music appropriate for the holiday, allowing you to download and enjoy the uninterrupted jazz as you celebrate with your valentine.  This year I asked myself - what if instead, I asked someone else to come up with a play list? In fact, what if I asked a jazz musician to make a list, and zero in on a singer with an instrumental background as well.   Enter Laila Biali. Singer-songwriter and pianist Laila Biali has performed on prestigious stages from New York City's Carnegie Hall to Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts. Known for a vocal sound that covers many different shadings and genres, Ms. Biali has recently received a 2020 SOCAN Music Songwriting Award plus the 2019 JUNO (Canada's GRAMMY) for Vocal Jazz Album. She has also toured with pop icon, Sting, and currently hosts a national radio show on CBC Music. Her list shows just how eclectic is her taste in music. The tunes she picked are: "A Case of You" - Joni Mitchell "Brought to My Senses" and "When We Dance" - Sting "I Know You By Heart" - Eva Cassidy "I Loves You, Porgy" - Keith Jarrett (solo piano version) "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" - Lauryn Hill "If Love is Overrated" - Gregory Porter "In Your Eyes" - Peter Gabriel "Vous êtes Mon Coeur (You Are My Heart)" - Gungor "More Than Words" - Extreme "All Is Full of Love" - Björk So in Podcast 797 we discuss her selections, particularly the jazz tunes. You'll hear some of the tunes in the podcast, most notably her intimate acoustic cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You," captured live off the floor at Revolution Recording Studios. This heartfelt interpretation, created with Valentine's Day in mind, features George Koller on upright bass and Laila's husband Ben Wittman on djembe.