Samantha Siva - identity (2000)

David Benoit apparently had so much fun combining his mutual love for the piano and Hammond B-3 on last year's Professional Dreamer that he couldn't resist the opportunity to apply the dual magic to numerous tracks on singer Samantha Siva's Identity (Genie). Benoit co-produces and performs on three of the disc's best tracks. He lays down a gritty organ solo to add an edgy texture to Siva's dreamy, angelic musings on "I Can't Stop"; introduces the melancholy "Wilderness" with a subtle, hypnotic piano motif beneath her earnest declaration of sorrow before Tim Weisberg chimes in with a brief but poignant flute solo; and adds Fender Rhodes to the wintry images of the sparse trio ballad "Lullaby." Siva's search for identity ranges from a torchy, breathy multi-octave heartbreak on "Lullaby" to the less emotional but much more hooky "I Can't Stop." She also dips perilously close to Sade territory on "Living Alone"; Siva's production on this cut is interesting in that Richard Elliot's well-placed tenor harmony spots are far softer than her vocals. As appealing as Siva is as an adult-contemporary vocal diva and occasional scat artist on the medieval folk-themed "Riding Horses," she shows even more promise as a producer and multi-instrumentalist. There's no way she can top Benoit, but she does a nice Liz Story/Suzanne Ciani turn on the lone instrumental "Millennium."
Review by Jonathan Widran