Ivana Santilli

ACCESS MAGAzINE (MARCH 1999)
Listening to "Brown", the solo effort from Ivana Santilli, the striking former member of the hugely popular funk-soul outfit Bass Is Base, you get the distinct feeling that she was bursting with sweet ideas that for reasons unknown didnít make it to the fore in that particular ensemble. Like a gourmet chef, this singer/songwriter/classically-trained pianist has carefully assembled those ideas - superlative arrangements, thoughtful songwriting - and lovingly cooked up a warm, organic and seductive sound she refers to as "yesterday, today , tomorrow soul", "Sun Has Set", "caramel Sky", "If Ever I Fall", and the wicked live jungle jam, "Sun+Moon=Tomorrow" offer ample proof that Santilli has ears cocked not just to the past but to the future. More importantly, Brown reminds us that the light has not yet gone out on elegance and sophistication in R&B/soul.



THE TORONTO SUN (APRIL 18, 1999)
The much-anticipated solo debut of this former member of likable Toronto funk-pop trio Bass Is Base brims with Santilliís warmth and self-confidence.

The resulting R & B - soul stew is due in no small part to her numerous skills and talents. As composer and arranger of the entire album, and producer of three tracks and co-producer of 10 others, Santilli is a major Canadian talent. Oh yeah, did I mention she also sings lead vocals and plays keyboards and trumpet? The first single, the boss-nova infected Too Deep, is one of the album's standout tracks, along with the similarly Brazilian-flavoured If Ever I fall (Pt. 1) - a duet with local R&B singer Glen Lewis, who appears again on the cool-sounding If Ever I Fall (Pt. 2 - The Heavy Handed Mix).

Also good is the drum `n bass stylings of sun + moon = tomorrow, the Italian-language Nostalgia, the jazzy, flute-accompanied ballad More Of Myself, and the funky Lonely Lullaby and Doin' All The Doin'. Rating: * * * * (out of five)


EXCLAIM! MAGAzINE ( APRIL 1999)
Lately there's been a lot of about female divas (Sarah, Alanis, and Shania) taking over Canada and the world at large. Ivana Santilli (formerly of Bass Is Base) may have the photogenic face to fit in with that list, but as an artist she's the anti-diva. She's a passionate vocalist as well as a talented instrumentalist and songwriter. On her solo debut disc, that sound is Brown. It's earthy, organic, and raw like the tones in her voice as well as her instrument of choice, the Rhodes piano. Santilli takes that vibe and traverses the hippest of hip genres - soul-jazz, drum & bass, Latin-groove and funk- but unlike so many acid-jazz musicians in the 90's, her intentions aren't resigned to retro. Every note and beat on this disc is struck with love and genuine soul. She undresses the listener/lover with lines like "what's the use of words when we got our bodies to explain", drops fat snares and smooth bass lines that take you back to `83 without the samples , and sings in Italian, just to keep it real. However, itís in the melancholic balladry of "The Sun Has Set" and the batucada `n bass excursions in "If Ever I Fall (pt. 2)" where Santilli pushes her parameters past the standards of sophistication the furthest. Canadian music has never sounded so seductive, and rarely does R&B and soul, in general sound this inventive.


THE TORONTO SUN (APRIL 16, 1999)
"SEX IN THE SUBTLETY"
If sophistication and elegance were commonplace in today's R&B, this sweet and simple lyric in Ivana Santilli's CD, Brown, wouldn't jump out. "Don't you know that makin' love takes more that just dark," Santilli sings on Doin' All The Doin', a song from her just-released debut.

While the majority of R&B(S) artists choose to assault us with sexually crass lyrics, Santilli would rather seduce us with earthy music. Just as Marvin Gaye and Bobby Womack did. "I'd rather groove be about sex," the trumpeter and classically-trained pianist says. "Subtlety is so sexy. Listen to DíAngelo and Me'Shell(N'Degeocello), " she ads."The groove (in their records)...that's the sex. They donít have to say anything."

With the exception of a couple of throwaway tracks, Santilli has succeeded in cooking up a warm and delicious concoction that includes elements of Brazilian music, soul, and drum `n bass. Clearly Santilli, a Canadian of French-Italian heritage, is all about expanding Black music's vocabulary. "When I left Bass Is Base I had a whole bunch of ideas that just fell out," she explains. "One was a boss nova, one was a ballad, and when I wrote Sun+Moon=Tomorrow, I was like, "I think this is a drum `n bass song." The cleverly crafted live drum `n bass composition, featuring prodigiously talented drummer Sekou Lamumba, is one of the catchiest things on Brown. "I'd written and recorded (Sun+Moon) in the summer of `97 but I wasn't crazy about the drum programming," Santilli says, "I thought it was too laid-back, I wanted it to be more meaty, so I called Sekou in `cause I thought live drums would be great. "So I laid out the tempo, played the bass line, he played along with it, and (producer/DJ) Abacus mixed it."

If anything, Brown proves that Santilli wasn't just the "sexy chick" in Bass Is Base. She wrote, composed and arranged all the songs on Brown, produced three tracks and co-produced the rest. Apparently, her creative voice was being stifled in her former band. The break-up was acrimonious but theyíve all moved in individually. "My ideas weren't necessarily good for what Bass Is Base was... or supposed to be," she says "My goal was to become a better musician, singer and songwriter, and I felt there was no room for me to grow." The challenges that came with stepping out seemed monumental, Santilli says. "At first, it was about finding out about what I could do," she says. "I wanted to write some really strong songs, songs that people would be struck by if I just sat at the piano and played them. "It's like when Prince sings and plays Purple Rain, people freak out and go, "What a beautiful song!"

If the crowds she's drawing are any indication, Santillii is creating a well-deserved buzz. "when people come to me after a show and say, 'I had no idea you were about this,' that's really satisfying `cause it means Iíve moved on."