by Malcolm Petch
Cover Me Canada 2012 (third place). Lilith stage Summer 2010. Closing ceremonies for the 2010 Paralympic Games. JunoFest 2009. CBC Radio 2 and Radio 3.Chances are you’ve seen and heard Ali Milner on TV or on the radio sometime over the last couple of years.
Most recently she showed up as the fiery redhead with the hot band on the reality show “Cover Me Canada”. (Actually, she always shows up as a fiery redhead). Ali Milner is climbing the tracks of awareness these days, letting her smooth voice and keyboard talents speak for themselves while her visual presence makes its own mark.
Ali is 22 years old. Her first album (Ali Milner) came out in 2005. If you do the math, you can see that she was 15 when that album debuted on the Venus/EMI label. And here’s a further kicker: Ali already had five years of experience under her belt when she released that album.
It’s a rarity to find someone in his or her early twenties who already has a decade of performing experience in hand. What does that mean? Well, it’s clear from the first notes of her music that this is someone who is not a flash-in-the-pan; this isn’t some college student who’s decided that she’d like to start writing songs and singing as something fun to do on the weekend. Ali Milner is very obviously focused on her music as a career. Her vocal agility shows that she’s logged a lot of time in practice sessions and, very likely, in training sessions as well. Her pitch is strong, stable, and well-defined, and her confident piano work supports her voice with understated assurance.
In 2009 Ali recorded her second album, I Dare You, and did it all live-from-the-floor to tape, adding strings and horns in post-production. That’s the kind of recording that a veteran jazz performer might elect to do, someone who knows what they want to play and when they want to play it. You can hear the music yourself on her website – you’ll find that the finished product is tasty and engaging, trailing elements of jazz and soul through pathways of pop that catch your ear on the first listen.
After Milner’s successful appearance on “Cover Me Canada”, it’s crystal clear that Ali’s live performance skills are up there with the best of those who’ve already logged a decade as a performer. Among other cover tunes she performed, she sang “Black Velvet” as a duet with Alannah Myles during the seventh episode of the series.
And we get to have Ali here at Streaming Café on August 11, with one of the bonuses being that at Streaming Café Milner will be performing a lot of her own songs, rather than the covers she had to perform as part of the TV show.
Milner’s Kelowna appearance will be one of a number she’ll be involved in during her week in the Kelowna area. She will discover what we all know: Whistler’s great, but there’s no place like Kelowna! And when she’s done here she’ll be heading back to her home base of Vancouver for the first Peak Performance Project showcase of the fall season.
We invite you to take in this special appearance by a Canadian artist who’s going to be making her mark more and more on the national and international scene. With the intimate listening-room setting of Streaming Café, this will be a rare up-close-and-personal performance that you’ll want to be part of. C’mon, you know you’ll be kicking yourself if you miss this one! August 11 at 7pm, live in-person at 596 Leon Ave in Kelowna, or live online at streamingcafe.net
