Review in the Ottawa Citizen
Oct 15, 08:52 PM
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Jazz
From Sea to Sky
Rating 3
Laila Biali (CBC)
*Famous Blue
Rating 3 1/2
Amy Cervini Quartet* (Orange Grove Jazz)
Diana Krall may be Canada’s best-selling jazz diva, but her influence is less impressive. Joni Mitchell, Feist, Leonard Cohen — these and other more contemporary singer/songwriters inspire up-and-coming singers such as Laila Biali and Amy Cervini.
The latest disc from singer/pianist Biali of Toronto opens with Sara McLachlan (Ice Cream) and ends with Leonard Cohen (Anthem), with visits to Feist (Mushaboom), Jane Sibbery (Calling All Angels), Bruce Cockburn (Stolen Land), Mitchell (Woodstock) and Ron Sexsmith (Secret Heart) en route.
Biali proves herself pianistically, playing with a more inclusive sense of style than does Krall. Biali’s voice is rich and full. Her arrangements, which make full use of horn players Guido Basso and Phil Dwyer for colour and strong soloing, add rather than subract to the source material for her songs. Biali favours well-plotted songs that strive for high energy and drama.
Cervini, a Torontonian based now in New York, is more minimalist in her approach. She extracts plenty of colour from her quartet — pianist Michael Cabe doubles on accordion, drummer Ernesto Cervini plays a bit of clarinet, they and bassist Mark Lau add background vocals — but the songs feel more like detailed miniatures rather than big productions.
Famous Blue begins confessionally, with Cervini’s moving version of Jonatha Brooke’s Because I Told You So. She, too, likes Cohen (Famous Blue Raincoat) and Feist (Mushaboom, again), but she also covers Fiona Apple (Extraordinary Machine) and Weezer (Holiday), adding some likable quirks to her disc.
Drawing from similar sources, Cervini’s music is on a slightly smaller scale than Biali’s and is sometimes more playful. But is equally accomplished and, just perhaps, more affecting.
Peter Hum
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