Composed from a cabin surrounded by snow-capped mountains during a writing retreat in the heart of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, Wintersongs is Laila Biali’s musical love letter to winter. This lush and cinematic recording blends jazz harmonies with chamber sounds, featuring orchestrations by Rob Mathes (Sting, Springsteen), Canadian classical sensation Venuti String Quartet, highly-decorated multi-instrumentalist Jane Bunnett, and more.

Tracks:
01 Drifting Down Ice 4:16
02 Rocky Mountain Lullaby 4:53
03 Prelude to Outside 1:00
04 Outside 5:17
05 Keep on Moving 2:26
06 Snow 3:57
07 Dance of the Pines 6:55
08 Winter Waltz (Belle nuit de Noël, instrumental) 3:20
09 Jesus, He is Born (Iesous ahatonnia’, instrumental) 4:34

All songs written by Laila Biali, except 3 (Rob Mathes) & 9 (arr. Biali)

Musicians:
Laila Biali - vocals, piano
George Koller - acoustic bass
Ben Wittman - drums, percussion
Jane Bunnett - flute (2), soprano sax (7)
Kevin Turcotte - trumpet (4, 9)
Lori Gemmell - harp (1, 6, 9)
Sam Yahel - Hammond B3 organ (4)
Wade O. Brown - vocals (4)
Joanna Majoko, Genevieve Marentette, Jackson Welchner - background vocals (5)

Venuti String Quartet (1, 5, 7, 8)
Drew Jurecka - violin, bandoneon (8), quartet arrangements
Rebekah Wolkstein - violin
Shannon Knights - viola
Amahl Arulanandam - cello

Chamber Orchestra (2, 3, 4, 6)
Violins: Rebekah Wolkstein, Drew Jurecka, Shane Kim, Boris Kupesic, Sydney Chun, Bethany Bergman, William Lamoureux, Nancy Kershaw, Aya Miyagawa, Erika Raum, Stephen Sitarski
Violas: Shannon Knights, Diane Leung, Rory McLeod, Nicholaos Papadakis
Cellos: Amahl Arulanandam, Naomi Barron, Lydia Munchinsky, Kevin Fox

Rob Mathes - string orchestrations, conducting
Scott Good - harp arrangement (6)

Basics recorded at Canterbury Music Company by Julian Decorte
Strings recorded at Revolution Recording Studios by John ‘Beetle’ Bailey, assisted by Luke Schindler
Flute and soprano sax recorded at Revolution Recording Studios by Stephen Koszler
Vocals and percussion recorded at Wittman Productions by Ben Wittman
Background vocals and harp recorded at Phase One Studios by Mike Smith

Mixed by Caleb Parker at Arrakis Audio
Mastered by João Carvalho
Co-produced by Ben Wittman & Laila Biali

Cover photo by Laila Biali (Banff National Park), edited by Stephanie Elise Haller