'Kralling' Home

BC's twenty-four year old Laila Biali received double honors Tuesday at this year's National Jazz Awards in the categories of keyboardist and composer. And this Saturday, the Laila Biali Trio will perform as Diana Krall's opening act for the kick off Vancouver's International Jazz Festival.

Comparisons to Krall began well before this. "You know, I get excited when people say things to me like you are going to be the next Diana Krall," Biali told The Tyee. But even though Biali sees herself as musically distinct from Krall, she appreciates their shared West Coast roots.

Krall attended school in Nanaimo, and Biali graduated from the renowned jazz program at North Vancouver's Handsworth Secondary School in 1998. Then both benefited from the vibrant Vancouver jazz scene.

Major 'grassroots'

The Vancouver Jazz Festival is now entering its twentieth year, after debuting in 1985 as the Pacific Jazz and Blues Festival. At the time, it was financed by its owners; now, it's a major organization.

Biali sees the Vancouver jazz scene as vibrant grassroots movement. Vancouver has got a "very different scene from Toronto. The young musicians here are so hungry to play all the time," said Biali. "But there just doesn't seem to be the same number of venues in Vancouver as there are in Toronto, which is sad because there is certainly the same amount of talent."

Biali knows the Toronto scene well. Even though she won both local and national music competitions from the age of 11, in high school, she was planning to study medicine. But on a whim and with a surprise scholarship offer, she decided to attend Toronto's Humber College, then touted as the best post-secondary institution for jazz by Jazz Report Magazine.

Opportunity 'granted'

She credits Humber's teachers: "the greatest teachers" she has met. A favorite teacher, Don Thompson, is also a recipient of two National Jazz Awards this year as an arranger and instrumentalist. "He doesn't spoon feed and say, here go learn these scales and patterns, which is pretty common these days in jazz," said Biali.

She also credits the grants program. After Humber, she received a full grant to study in New York City with acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch and to record her debut album. "I am really lucky that I happen to fit into their targets in terms of equal opportunity: I am a woman, for one, and I am a young musician and I do original music."

The grant system worked well for her. From 2003 to 2004 the Canada Council for the Arts awarded $1.6 million for music development. "When the Canada Council first started back in the fifties, it tended to have a very European focus, focusing on classical music," said Donna Balkan, media and public relations director for the Council. "Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing recognition of other forms of music like jazz and world music." Balkan says Canada's jazz musicians are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

Famous nerves

During her time at Humber, Biali started performed extensively in Toronto, Montreal, Peru and throughout Europe.

A one-woman show, she handles her own management, public relations, and marketing. Fans purchase her debut album, Introducing the Laila Biali Trio directly from her website.

For her, big sales aren't the main motivation. "What is within my grasp right now is to make music that people enjoy and that people can relate to," said Biali. "I write mostly about my family, my friends, the people who are around me."

For Biali, this Saturday's performance will be a welcome homecoming that will give her a chance to showcase the uniqueness of her voice to Vancouver's discriminating audience-and to some familiar critics. "The thought of my piano teacher, whom I haven't seen in seven years, somebody who contributed so significantly to my musical life for over eleven years being in the audience of the Diana Krall concert...it freaks me out a little bit," said Biali.

The Laila Biali Trio, with special guest Phil Dwyer, will open for Diana Krall at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday June 25. On Sunday, June 26 at noon the Trio will be performing at the CBC Jazz Cafe in the studios at 700 Hamilton Street.

Caroline Dobuzinskis is a Vancouver journalist and contributor to The Tyee.