Presented by MiraCosta College, the Oceanside Jazz Festival consists of educational and performance opportunities for school and community jazz bands and choirs, and featured concerts by internationally recognized performing artists.
Founded in 2006, hundreds of jazz choirs and jazz bands have performed in our beautiful 400+ seat Concert Hall. The Oceanside Jazz Festival is known for its commitment to welcoming school and community ensembles of all levels, providing them with performance opportunities, professional adjudication, educational workshops, and of course, the opportunity to see and hear internationally recognized guest artists!
Meet the Guest Artist for 2024: 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
