Speakers Profile - Lily Dior










Travels From:
Sydney

Fee Range: B


Lily Dior is firmly established as one of Australias finest Jazz and Soul artists having shared the stage with an amazing array of the best musicians from Australia and around the world.

With a voice that's been described as "deep, full, heartstopping and sultry"(SMH), Lily has made a strong mark on the Sydney scene since first stepping onto the stage as a teenager.

The daughter of musicians who met and married in London, Lily spent the first five years of her life touring Asia with her parents before they moved to Australia.

Lily?s first solo project was 'A Night Of Lady Day', a tribute to Billie Holiday which she wrote and produced. She performed a four month sell-out season which introduced her to the Sydney scene and attracted the attention of the late great Jackie Orszaczky, who invited her to become one of the founding members of 'The Godmothers'.

The release of her debut album 'Invitation' was enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike. Sydney's Drum Media wrote: "Invitation is a deep, moving piece of work that is almost ridiculously listenable and is destined to be required listening for any music lover possessing a cultured taste."
Of her performance, Jim McLeod of Jazztrack wrote: "She can belt out a song, dramatize a lyric, swing hard and earthy, flirt, sing a tender song - Lily can 'tell a story'."

At the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz the same year, audiences were treated to the riveting performance which earned her second place at the National Jazz Awards.
With an international panel of judges that included Kurt Elling, Laurence Hobgood and Sheila Jordan she was later invited to study in New York.

In 2000, Lily travelled to New York on a study grant to partake in workshops and private lessons with the great Mark Murphy and was invited up to perform at one of his New York appearances.
That same year she was singled out by legendary arranger/pianist Dave Matthews' to perform with his band The Manhattan Jazz Quintet, which included the amazing line up of Bill Evans, Charnett Moffatt, Victor Lewis and Lew Soloff, at Sydneys Lyric Theatre.

Concert highlights include the Jazz Action Society's 25th anniversary at The Studio and the Benefit for the late Roger Frampton, as well as the critically acclaimed "Testimony" where she performed with The Australian Art Orchestra at The Opera House, "Dior presided like a Pagan Priestess" SMH.

Lily was also a guest artist with the amazing Oscar Castro Neves and his all star band including Airto Moriera, Alex Acuna and Abraham Laboriel for 'Noite Brasil' a sublime program of Jobim classics, in front 100,000 ecstatic people. "Our own 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' nylon string guitar." John Shand SMH

Over the last few years Lily has been building her reputation overseas with performances in New Zealand, London, Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong and has released her CD 'Clear Day' on Jazzgroove Records which is a moody and sensitive collection of standards and originals with superb arrangements by Gerard Masters.


Lily's strong entree into the Australian jazz scene has led her to perform with many of the country's most accomplished musicians, including: Barney McAll, Gerard Masters, Cameron Undy, James Greening, Miroslav Bukovsky,Carl Dewhurst, Tony Buck, Hamish Stuart, Jonathan Zwartz, Chris Abrahams, Lloyd Swanton, Sandy Evans, Mike Nock, Mark Isaacs, Dale Barlow and the Paul Grabowsky Trio.
Her performance credits also include guest appearances with, DIG, The Mighty Reapers, E.O.N, James Morrison, and Jeff Duff.

Lily has appeared at many jazz festivals including Jazz in the Vines, Kiama, Bellingen, Wangaratta, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Thredbo, Manly, Wollongong, Magnetic Island, Noosa, Darling Harbour, Sydney Festival and many more.

A regular presenter at Sydney's leading jazz station Eastside Radio, Lily?s program 'Voices' has enjoyed a dedicated following since it's inception and has had many feature guest interviews including Ricky Peterson, Ron Carter, Marcos, Valle, Theo Bleckmann, Katie Noonan, The Idea of North, Vince Jones, Kurt Elling, James Valentine and Emma Franz.

Television appearances include ABC's O'Loghlin on Saturday Night, The Arts Show as well as "The Pulse", an exciting ten part series made about the Australian Contemporary Jazz Scene.