laila biali tour

Laila Biali Verified

Concerts and tour dates, fan reviews.

Fans Also Follow

About laila biali.

LIVELab Hybrid Concert Series: Laila Biali – Wintersongs & Holiday Classics

Dec 8, 2023 7:30pm to 10:00pm.

Date/Time Date(s) - 08/12/2023 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

LIVELab  Hybrid  Concert Series 2023-2024

Laila biali, wintersongs & holiday classics, with jane bunnett (flute), rebekah wolkstein (violin),, shannon knights (viola), naomi barron (cello), dan fortin (bass), ben wittman (drums).

Following a triumphant near sold-out premiere at Toronto’s Koerner Hall in 2022, Laila Biali brings  Wintersongs & Holiday Classics  across Canada. This offering features winter-inspired original material alongside thrilling arrangements of beloved secular and sacred classics, inviting audiences of all ages and tastes into an enchanted experience of snow-swept landscapes, twinkling lights, and the magic of the holiday season.

Laila’s live show is eclectic and energetic, a true representation of her on and off stage. Melodies take thrilling left turns and pre-choruses give way to instrumental interludes. One minute Biali is soaring over a bluesy storm of handclaps and hard-charging keyboard riffs, the next she is pouring out her soul on an impassioned ballad. It’s jazz, it’s pop, it can’t be put into a box but it’s beautiful.

In-person and LIVEStreamed from the LIVELab

Friday, december 8 2023, doors open at 7:00 pm, in-person: $50, livestream: $15, buy tickets.

Multi award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and CBC Music national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City’s Carnegie Hall to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and supported international icon Sting. In 2020, Laila was honoured by SOCAN Music with the Hagood Hardy Award for Excellence in Songwriting. In 2019, Laila’s eponymous release won her a JUNO (Canada’s GRAMMY) for “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.” The year prior, she was awarded top prize at the Canadian Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category. Laila was also the youngest-ever double winner at Canada’s National Jazz Awards when she was named “SOCAN Composer of the Year” and “Keyboardist of the Year.” She received her first JUNO nomination for Tracing Light (2011), and a spot on DownBeat Magazine’s “Best Albums of the Year” for Live in Concert (2013) and Out of Dust (2020). In September of 2017, Laila was brought on as the host for CBC Music’s national radio show, Saturday Night Jazz, a weekly show broadcast to listeners across Canada. While Laila continues to earn high honours in the Jazz world, her signature sound transcends genre as she “masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy” (Washington Post). Laila’s highly anticipated album, Out of Dust, which features multiple GRAMMY nominees and winners including Lisa Fischer, Alan Ferber, John Ellis, and Larnell Lewis, released March 27, 2020 and was also nominated for a 2021 JUNO Award.

“Biali provides the positive, come-together messaging we need in these challenging times.”  – Parade Magazine

“Masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy”  – The Washington Post

“A keyboard virtuoso with a distinctive sultry voice – intimate and emotional.” – Toronto Star “Accomplished and brave … a gifted player and natural risk taker”  – Exclaim! (CA)

“Mellifluous vocals, dynamic pianism and hook-laden songs”  – Jazzwise (UK)

Listen to Laila Biali – “Joy to the World”

This concert will be LIVEstreamed and video recorded

This concert is generously supported by incite Foundation for the Arts, McMaster University Alumni and TD Insurance, Marsales Real Estate and Long & McQuade Musical Instruments

Laila Biali

Multi award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and CBC Music national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City’s Carnegie Hall to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and supported international icon Sting.

See Live Shows

See Virtual Shows

• January 28, 2022 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm

In 2020, Laila was honoured by SOCAN Music with the Hagood Hardy Award for Excellence in Songwriting. In 2019, Laila’s eponymous release won her a JUNO (Canada’s GRAMMY) for “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.” The year prior, she was awarded top prize at the Canadian Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category. Laila was also the youngest-ever double winner at Canada’s National Jazz Awards when she was named “SOCAN Composer of the Year” and “Keyboardist of the Year.” She received her first JUNO nomination for Tracing Light (2011), and a spot on DownBeat Magazine’s “Best Albums of the Year” for Live in Concert (2013) and Out of Dust (2020). In September of 2017, Laila was brought on as the host for CBC Music’s national radio show, Saturday Night Jazz, a weekly show broadcast to listeners across Canada. While Laila continues to earn high honours in the Jazz world, her signature sound transcends genre as she “masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy” (Washington Post). Laila’s highly anticipated album, Out of Dust , which features multiple GRAMMY nominees and winners including Lisa Fischer, Alan Ferber, John Ellis, and Larnell Lewis, released March 27, 2020 and was also nominated for a 2021 JUNO Award.

“ The album’s production is shimmering, the arrangements are lush and Biali’s voice – spanning registers – is pure and warm. She’s also fearless on piano and, above else, in her imagination. ★★★★”– DownBeat Magazine

“ Biali provides the positive, come-together messaging we need in these challenging times .” – Parade Magazine

“ Masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy ” – The Washington Post

Please note : No volunteer passes or comps are accepted for this show. Tickets will also be available at the door if not previously sold out online.

The Yardbird Suite

Venue Phone: (780) 432-0428

Venue Website: https://yardbirdsuite.com

View our food and drink menu

Virtual show upcoming – Ticket info

If you would like to watch, and you are a virtual, silver, gold or legacy member — please log in . If not, you may purchase a $10 day pass ($8 for basic, student or senior memberships) or become a yearly virtual member at the link below.

Log in to see virtual show Become a member/purchase pass

Archived live stream

If you would like to watch this arviced live stream, and you are a member — please log in . If not, you may purchase a day pass or become a yearly virtual member at the link below.

Become a member

• New account

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login

Home » Jazz Musicians » Laila Biali

Laila Biali

• Influencers
• Has Influenced

Multi award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and CBC Music national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City’s Carnegie Hall to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and supported international icon Sting. In 2020, Laila was honoured by SOCAN Music with the Hagood Hardy Award for Excellence in Songwriting. In 2019, Laila’s eponymous release won her a JUNO (Canada’s GRAMMY) for “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.” The year prior, she was awarded top prize at the Canadian Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category. Laila was also the youngest-ever double winner at Canada’s National Jazz Awards when she was named “SOCAN Composer of the Year” and “Keyboardist of the Year.” She received her first JUNO nomination for Tracing Light (2011), and a spot on DownBeat Magazine’s “Best Albums of the Year” for Live in Concert (2013) and Out of Dust (2020). In September of 2017, Laila was brought on as the host for CBC Music’s national radio show, Saturday Night Jazz, a weekly show broadcast to listeners across Canada. While Laila continues to earn high honours in the Jazz world, her signature sound transcends genre as she “masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy” (Washington Post). Laila’s highly anticipated album, Out of Dust, which features multiple GRAMMY nominees and winners including Lisa Fischer, Alan Ferber, John Ellis, and Larnell Lewis, released March 27, 2020 and was also nominated for a 2021 JUNO Award.

• 2018: won Canadian Songwriting Competition, Jazz category, for original song Satellite • 2016: nominated for the 2016 Premier’s Awards for Outstanding College Graduates • 2012: Nominated for BCTC Award - Touring Act of the Year • 2011: Nominated for a JUNO Award - Vocal Jazz Album of the Year • 2006: Selected by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to represent Canada as pianist in international ensemble, Swinging Europe, under the direction of BBC Big Band composer and conductor, Barry Forgie • 2005: Youngest double winner at National Jazz Awards – SOCAN Composer of the Year and Keyboardist of the Year • 2004: Fraser McPherson Jazz Scholarship recipient (British Columbia) • 2003: Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship recipient (North American wide competition) • 2003: Issued CBC-Galaxie Rising Star Award at National Jazz Awards (*award issued for original big band composition/arrangement, And Not a Dream) • 2001: Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) Scholarship

Allison Au: Migrations

by Dan McClenaghan October 24, 2023

Canadian saxophonist Allison Au says she was drawn to the simplicity of a jazz quartet “as a vehicle for realizing the visions of my original compositions." Charlie Parker must have felt the same way; Art Pepper, too. And John Coltrane. Au stuck to this format for her Wander Wonder (Self Produced, 2018) and 2017's self-produced Forest Grove (review here). Both were terrific outings that spoke to the young artist's potential. But as with the noted giants mentioned above, Au must ...

Laila Biali is taking requests

by Leo Sidran August 2, 2023

Singer, pianist and songwriter Laila Biali recently released Your Requests (ACT Music), built around a collection of songs from the Great American Songbook that were requested by her fans. After a string of projects of her original songs and more contemporary covers, the album was a departure for her. After spending years living in New York, Laila moved back to her native Canada to raise her son, along with her husband, drummer and producer Ben Wittman, who she ...

Nicky Schrire: Nowhere Girl

by Dan Bilawsky June 10, 2023

The search for identity is a sine qua non of any artist's experience and development. But for a musician like Nicky Schrire, it goes much deeper than most. Born in London, raised in South Africa, studying and entering the professional ranks in New York and working back through her initial points of origin before relocating to Toronto in 2020, this noted vocalist-composer has established herself as a globetrotter of the first order. Stylistically, as with geography, Schrire hits multiple points ...

Laila Biali: Your Requests

by Dan Bilawsky May 16, 2023

While the jazz pipeline produces plenty of artists who pay no mind to an audience's interests, those types--figures with tunnel vision, in many if not most ways--rarely reach their full potential. Instead, it's the musicians who make it a point to communicate who tend to forge the strongest bonds with those on the receiving end. Laila Biali is one such figure. This JUNO-winning gem of a vocalist, pianist, arranger and songwriter always manages to connect. Biali has a keen awareness ...

Laila Biali's Jazz In The Age Of Lonely Hearts

by Sean Conroy June 21, 2022

Releasing art into the wild is an act that is fraught with doubt and second guessing. These feelings are not unique to jazz artists, or even artists of this generation of immediate sharing and viral sensations. Writing of her friends' decision to surprise her by publishing her verse, 17th century American poet Anne Bradstreet was apologetic: a mother helplessly subjecting her child to public scrutiny. As a shield, a mother's love was not enough: “I cast thee by ...

Amanda Tosoff: Earth Voices

by Dan Bilawsky February 10, 2021

Building off the lure of language planted in Amanda Tosoff's Juno-nominated Words (Empress Music Group, 2016), this sixth album from the Toronto-based composer and pianist waves poetic in wondrous fashion. Pairing different guest vocalists and collections of musicians with personalized takes on Parnassian beauty of varied sorts, Tosoff cements the bonds between earthly voices and heavenly sounds with a questioning spirit. The list of subjects and styles, both in words and music, varies widely on this playlist. ...

Laila Biali: Out Of Dust

by Dan Bilawsky April 23, 2020

There's no boxing Laila Biali in. A sharp-minded songwriter, respected pianist and celebrated vocalist who straddles jazz and pop with unusual ease and strength of vision, Biali is truly beyond category. Possessing clear eyes, a perceptive mien and a sharpshooters's gifts in regard to emotional aim, she often expresses more in a single breath than others do in an entire album. Capable of making you laugh and cry all at once, her delivery out of dust is divine.

Off Tour With Sting, Laila Biali Is In Residency At Subculture May 10, 24 & 31 With Guests John Ellis, Jo Lawry And Zach Brock / The Requestomatic Audience Challenge

Source: Claudia Artzer April 29, 2013

Award-winning Canadian pianist, vocalist and songwriter Laila Biali has toured with Grammy award-winners Suzanne Vega, Chris Botti and Paula Cole and has recorded with and supported pop icon Sting. Laila has an acute awareness and appreciation for pop and rock that she combines with her jazz training to create thrilling arrangements. Her recent CD, Live in Concert, captures the intimacy and excitement she generates on stage and the range of music she makes her own from Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, ... read more

"It is the ultimate task given to the musician, whether as singer or instrumentalist, to create a unique signature or fingerprint that is instantly recognisable as their own. What is surprising and delightful in Laila Biali is that both as vocalist and pianist she accomplishes this with equal aplomb. She is an exciting and unique talent, and I admire her greatly." —Sting “The album’s production is shimmering, the arrangements are lush and Biali’s voice – spanning registers – is pure and warm. She’s also fearless on piano and, above else, in her imagination. ★★★★“ – DownBeat Magazine “There’s no boxing Laila Biali in … Capable of making you laugh and cry all at once, her delivery Out of Dust is divine. 4.5 stars.” – All About Jazz “Out of Dust sparkles like a soundtrack for spring.” – The Vancouver Sun “Biali provides the positive, come-together messaging we need in these challenging times.” – Parade Magazine "Laila Biali sings her wide-embrace jazz-pop fusion in steadily varied, blues-tinged song forms with keen passion and witty humanism... [Her] aim is true and her vision is set far and wide." –DownBeat Magazine "LAILA BIALI masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy." –Washington Post "With Laila Biali’s mellifluous vocals, dynamic pianism and ability for penning hook-laden songs, her reputation is surely going to flourish further afield." –Jazzwise Magazine (UK) "Hand clapping, finger snapping exuberant funky goodness, gorgeously lush vocals, and a solidly memorable hook" –Parade Magazine "Laila Biali has found a sweet spot applying a musical toolkit brimming with jazz devices to her pop craftsmanship." –Andrew Gilbert, The Mercury News "Biali has a voice that makes the listener shudder, it is so rounded and pure." —Montreal Gazette "A keyboard virtuoso with a distinctive sultry voice - intimate and emotional." —Toronto Star "For Biali, the jazz tradition is a step on the way to setting, and playing, her own standards." —Toronto Life Magazine "Full of bold musical ventures, youthful funkiness, ingenuity, verve and depth." —Ottawa Citizen

Kurt Elling

Keith Jarrett

Diana Krall

Joni Mitchell

Norma Winstone

Norah Jones

Robert Glasper

Esperanza Spalding

Gregory Porter

Snarky Puppy

Brandon Robertson

Sonia Johnson

Heidi Savoie

The Aubrey Wilson Quartet

• Recent Releases
• Soundcloud Audio
• Free Song(s)

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Nowhere Girl

Anzic Records 2023

Your Requests

Empress Music Group (North America) / ACT Music (Europe) / CORE PORT (Japan) 2023

Self Produced 2023

Earth Voices

Empress Music Group 2021

Out Of Dust

ACT Music 2020

LAILA BIALI

ACT Music (Europe only), Chronograph Records (Canada only) 2018

Racing Across the Land

Bye Bye Blackbird

Love Is For The Birds

Night Watch by Bob Holz

Awakening by Andrew Vogt

Alone by Wayne Escoffery

Monet's Haystacks

• Song of the Day

Autumn Leaves

Get more of a good thing.

More Access

• Content Plug-Ins

For Musicians

• Rates and Options
• Place Order

Privacy Policy | We do not sell or share your personal information © 2024 All About Jazz & Jazz Near You . All rights reserved.

Join Our Community / Welcome Back!

• Member? Sign in

Reset your password Click the eye to show your password

This is a jazz music website—spammers will be deleted.

Welcome to All About Jazz!

Explore all about jazz & jazz near you.

• Jazz Albums
• Album Reviews
• Jazz Musicians
• Contest Giveaways
• Jazz Pictures
• Radio & Podcasts
• Video of the Day

• Livestreams
• Venue / Clubs
• Venue Finder
• Musician Finder
• Teacher Finder
• Events By City
• Weekly Newsletter
• Getting Started
• Help Wanted

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories and includes a local jazz events calendar.

Help improve the Laila Biali page

All About Jazz musician pages are maintained by musicians, publicists and trusted members like you. Interested? Tell us why you would like to improve the Laila Biali musician page.

Laila Biali

• Mon 25 Nov London, Ronnie Scott's Laila Biali View tickets

Friday, June 20, 2014

Maykop - the capital of the republic of adygea.

LAILA BIALI

Multi award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and CBC Music national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City’s Carnegie Hall to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and supported international icon Sting. Her 2020 album release,  Out of Dust,  received rave reviews and was nominated for a 2021 JUNO Award. Laila was also honoured by SOCAN Music with the Hagood Hardy Award for Excellence in Songwriting. In 2019, Laila’s eponymous release won her a JUNO Award (Canada’s GRAMMY) for “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.” The year prior, she was awarded top prize at the Canadian Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category. Laila was also the youngest-ever double winner at Canada’s National Jazz Awards when she was named “SOCAN Composer of the Year” and “Keyboardist of the Year.” She received her first JUNO nomination for  Tracing Light  (2011), and a spot on DownBeat Magazine’s “Best Albums of the Year” for both  Live in Concert  (2013) and  Out of Dust  (2020). In September of 2017, Laila was brought on as the host for CBC Music’s national radio show,  Saturday Night Jazz , a weekly show broadcast to millions of listeners across Canada. While Laila continues to earn high honours in the jazz world, her signature sound transcends genre as she “masterfully mixes jazz and pop, bringing virtuosity and unpredictability to songs that are concise and catchy” (Washington Post). Her latest release –  Your Requests  – showcases personal arrangements of jazz classics requested by her social media community and features guest vocalists Kurt Elling, Emilie-Claire Barlow, and Caity Gyorgy as well as instrumentalists Anat Cohen, Grégoire Maret, Kelly Jefferson, Michael Davidson, George Koller, Larnell Lewis, Ben Wittman and Maninho Costa.

“Biali’s voice – spanning registers – is pure and warm. She’s also fearless on piano and, above else, in her imagination.”  – DownBeat Magazine

“There’s no boxing Laila Biali in … Capable of making you laugh and cry all at once.”  – All About Jazz

“Biali provides the positive, come-together messaging we need in these challenging times.” –  Parade Magazine

“… moving, inspiring, and life-affirming songs.”  – SOCAN Music