Image Courtesy Laila Biali

By Chris Brown

At Medicine Hat JazzFest on June 21

Laila Biali says she is ‘jazz for the jazz skeptic’

Jun 16, 2022 | 3:56 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Laila Biali knows jazz can be a tough sell for some listeners. She also knows there are many different artist interpretations within the overall jazz genre.

She’s pretty confident about her jazz though.

“My jazz hopefully would be for you. I always say that we’re jazz for the jazz skeptic because we cross over,” she says. “There are other influences in what we do that can really be heard. So from folk music to world music to rock and pop and certainly singer-songwriter.”

“And also we cover songs by artists who people will be familiar with even if they aren’t jazz fans: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Feist, Leonard Cohen, and this helps connect people with something that feels relatable.”

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Biali will perform on June 21 at 7 p.m. with her husband Ben Wittman on drums and George Koller on bass. She says they try to put a friendly face on jazz and she tells stories throughout to give the songs context.

Her show also includes a “request-o-matic.”

“Anybody can request any song they want to hear there’s no restriction on genre,” she explains. “And out of that fun little game we now have songs by David Bowie Let’s Dance and Coldplay Yellow and Randy Newman and others. So again I feel like there’s just something for everybody.”

Biali is one of Canada’s most accomplished jazz artists and a long-time festival favourite.

She won the Juno Award for vocal jazz album of the year in 2019 and is a multi-time Juno nominee. She is also the CBC Music national radio host of Saturday Night Jazz, has toured with and supported artists like Sting and Suzanne Vega and headlined venues and festivals across five continents.

After previous Medicine Hat JazzFest shows in the main theatre and studio theatre, she’ll perform on the Esplanade Terrace where all shows will take place this year.

She has fond memories of her previous visits here. She says festival executive and artistic director Lyle Rebbeck is one of her favourite people.

“He has always succeeded in not only making it world-class in terms of the level of musicianship and the level of production but then at the same time it has such a beautiful community and family-oriented feeling to it.”

She’s also a big fan of Station Coffee.

“I have my little frequent flyer card so I’ll be going there probably four or five times over the course of two days,” she says with a laugh.

Biali recorded new tracks in April and will be back in the studio in August. She has singles coming out this year and two albums in the works.

For the full festival schedule, ticket information and more visit medicinehatjazzfest.com.