Lily Dior [vocal]
Featuring:
Michele Vignali [tenor sax], Nico Menci [piano], Marco Marzola [bass], Enrico Smiderle [drums]
Dior’s voice has the depth, control and clarity. (Gregory Porter) Kind Of Jazz
“Since Australian vocalist Lily Dior arrived on the London scene she’s been going from strength to strength and amassing a reputation as an exciting live performer and versatile singer who works across genres including jazz, groove and soul”Recognised as one of Australia’s finest singers, Lily Dior has shared the stage with a remarkable list of outstanding musicians from Australia and around the world and has performed at many of Australia’s best venues including The Opera House Concert Hall, The State Theatre and the Sydney Town Hall. Discovered by the late great Hungarian bassist Jackie Orszaczky as a teenager, performing a show she wrote and produced on the life of Billie Holiday, Lily became a seminal member of Sydney’s hottest Soul/Funk outfit, ‘The Godmothers’, wowing audiences with her electric stage presence and powerful voice. Lily has performed at major festivals across Australia and New Zealand including the Sydney Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Wellington International Jazz Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz where she placed second at The National Jazz Awards led by a panel of international judges including Kurt Elling, Laurence Hobgood, and Sheila Jordan. Awarded a grant in 2000, Lily traveled to New York to study with jazz legend Mark Murphy, and was invited to perform at one of his rare appearances. That same year, she was singled out by legendary arranger/pianist Dave Matthews to perform with The Manhattan Jazz Quintet, which included Bill Evans, Charnett Moffatt, Victor Lewis, and Lew Soloff, at Sydney Casino’s Lyric Theatre. Invited to sing with Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro Neves and his all star band at ‘Noite Brasil’ for the Sydney Festival, Lily performed to an audience of 100,000 people with some of the world’s greatest jazz and latin artists including Airto Moriera, Alex Acuna, Abraham Laboriel, Don Grusin and Gary Meeks. “Lily Dior has never sounded better than she did joining the magic for How Insensitive and, later in the night, Dindi, a charming duet with Castro Neves’s nylon string guitar.” Sydney Morning Herald (John Shand, SMH).
Lily has built a solid reputation overseas with performances in New York, London, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong and has shared the stage with a who’s who of world-class musicians including Paul Grabowsky, Mark Isaacs, Dale Barlow, Mike Nock, Guy Strazzulo, Alister Spence, Kate Cebrano, D.I.G, The Mighty Reapers, The Bays (UK), and James Morrison. She’s been featured on TV and Radio programs including ABC’s ‘The Pulse’, the James O’Lochlan Show, ABC’s Arts program, as well as live performance broadcasts for the ABC and Eastside Radio.
Lily became involved in radio as a teenager, and hosted a show on Sydney’s
premiere jazz station ‘Eastside Radio’ for over 10 years. Her program ‘Voices’ featured interviews with leading Australian and International artists including Ron Carter, Kurt Elling, Marcos Valle, Cassandra Wilson, Theo Bleckman, Ricky Peterson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Norma Winstone, Katie Noonan, Lulo Reinhart, The Idea Of North, Vika Bull, Fred Wesley, Gian Slater, Ingrid James, Kristen Cornwell, James Valentine and Vince Jones.