IN THE SPIRIT OF JAZZ
Spontaneity key on new album
When Laila Biali started making her new album, she wanted to create something “holistically representative” of who she is. That’s no small challenge when your descriptors include pianist, composer, arranger, singer-songwriter, jazz artist, pop performer and radio host.
Biali’s previous album House of Many Rooms was her first of entirely original material. Unsurprisingly, it was also her most personal. She’s still proud of the work, but the jazz artist knew something was missing from the pop-leaning record.
“It didn’t have enough of the jazz foundation. Those songs in live performance. … There wasn’t really room to crack them open and explore new territory that might be different from show to show, which to me is the spirit of jazz,” she said.
On this self-titled record, which arrives Friday, even the poppier tunes leave room for lots of spontaneity.
It’s a diverse-sounding album, from the gospel-tinged opener Got to Love to the mellow ballad Dolores Angel, but Biali said it’s her most cohesive to date. Each song is united by a theme of “fresh, contemporary, crossover jazz sounds that are very piano-driven.”
Biali and her collaborators recorded 21 songs to arrive at the final 12. Queen of Hearts was cowritten with Canadian legend Randy Bachman. Biali and the Guess Who/BTO musician share an agent, who floated the idea that they work together years ago.
She finally took the jump and emailed him during the making of the album and Bachman replied right away. They met at his home in Oakville, Ont., to discuss some ideas and Biali was taken by his energy and excitement.
“He was a bit like a kid in a candy store. He was bouncing around and showing me all these ideas he had,” she said.
Eventually, he recorded a harmony on the guitar and sent it to her. Biali built on that to create the jazzy song Queen of Hearts.
Her album also includes three unique covers, something Biali has become known for in her career. In 2013, she embarked on a unique musical experiment. As she toured Canada, she solicited cover song suggestions from audience members and arranged new interpretations of the tunes on the fly between shows.
“There was no restriction on genre and they could request up to the day before the concert they were attending and I would arrange and unveil a brand new cover at each show,” she said.
Three of those requested songs find a spot on the self-titled album, including the record’s first single, a sombre yet rousing cover of Coldplay’s Yellow.
The most unexpected choice is a sultry, bass-driven rendition of the David Bowie classic Let’s Dance. The suggestion came from a friend. Biali allowed herself to work quickly and explore the song. She wasn’t trying to make it sound like the original. She didn’t think the cover would last that long at live shows, but it stuck.
The covers give Biali to exercise a different part of her creativity.
“I love to write, but boy do I love to arrange. We needed to have some of that represented as well,” she said.
Biali is excited to return to Saskatchewan, particularly after her last visit to the province in October. She played 16 shows in smaller centres from La Ronge to Estevan and “absolutely loved it.”
“I’ve never played so many shows where all generations were represented,” she said. “There were people as young as three all the way up to folks in their late 80s. It felt like a family reunion wherever I went.”
The tour was full of memorable moments. In La Ronge, Biali quickly arranged a cover of the Tragically Hip’s Ahead By A Century at the request of the presenter to honour Gord Downie, who had died that day.
In Estevan, she was accompanied by a yowling cat during one of the night’s saddest songs. She and her band drove through hurricane-force winds that flattened houses and uprooted trees in Saskatchewan. She also marvelled at the beauty of the landscape and the kindness of the people as she made her way from town to town.
“I totally understand now whey they call it the heartland of Canada,” she said.
Biali will be accompanied in Saskatoon by drummer Jon May and bassist/vocalist Adam Thomas.