LAILA BIALI — Your Requests (2023) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Your Requests”, Laila Biali’s third album on ACT, shows a very different side of the craft of the Canadian pianist/vocalist from its predecessors. Both her self-titled debut album, which won the Canadian Juno Award for Best Vocal Jazz album in 2019, and also its successor, “Out of Dust” (nominated for the award in 2021), showcased above all the range, the depth and the sheer quality of the pianist/vocalist/ bandleader’s songwriting. Now, however, for the first time in 10 years, the Toronto-based artist and her band return to jazz standards with a new twist on songs from the Great American Songbook including classics by Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, and Jerome Kern. ACT
Tracklist :
1    Bye Bye Blackbird 4:18
Written-By – Morton Dixon, Ray Henderson
2    Blame It On My Youth 5:29
Written-By – Edward Heyman, Oscar Levant
3    But Not For Me 2:57
Featuring – Anat Cohen
Written-By – George & Ira Gershwin
4    My Funny Valentine 4:51
Featuring – Kurt Elling
Written-By – Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
5    My Favorite Things 4:28
Featuring – Emilie-Claire Barlow
Written-By – Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
6    Corcovado (Quiet Night Of Quiet Stars) 4:28
Featuring – Grégoire Maret
Lyrics By [English] – Gene Lees
Written-By – Antônio Carlos Jobim
7    Pennies From Heaven 5:30
Featuring – Caity Gyorgy
Written-By – Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke
8    Autumn Leaves 5:12
Lyrics By [English] – Johnny Mercer
Written-By – Jacques Prévert, Joseph Kosma
9    The Nearness Of You 3:24
Written-By – Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington
10    All The Things You Are 3:59
Written-By – Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II
Credits :
Acoustic Bass – George Koller
Arranged By – Laila Biali
Clarinet – Anat Cohen (tracks: 3)
Drums – Ben Wittman (tracks: 3, 6), Larnell Lewis (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10)
Harmonica – Grégoire Maret* (tracks: 6)
Percussion – Ben Wittman (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7), Maninho Costa (tracks: 3)
Soprano Saxophone – Kelly Jefferson (tracks: 5, 8)
Tenor Saxophone – Kelly Jefferson (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 7, 10)
Vibraphone – Michael Davidson (3) (tracks: 7)
Vocals, Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Laila Biali