Arianne (Annie) Benick=gemini, founder, co-writer, lead vocals
Julia Johanan =gemini, founder, co-writer, keys
Dan Barger=sax and flute, percussion
guests= drums
Shimon Israel = Bass
Influences
Styles; Old school jazz, old soul reggae, old soul jazz, blues, latin jazz, torch, lounge, Motown, Old R&B, funk / Artists: Sade, Erika Badu, mos def, black star, madlib, jill scott, angie stone, mary j. blige, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Etta James, Madonna, Nora Jones, Jackie Mittoo, Jimmy Smith, Big Joe Patton, Jimmy Mcgriff, Burning Spear, Vince Guaraldi, Barrington Levy, Bob Marley, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Lauren Hill, Fleetwood Mac, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Mighty Diamonds, Scientist, Mad Professor, Twilight Circus, Massive Attack, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Portishead
Sounds Like
Great music that takes you there!! A little bit of this a little bit of that! Our favorite genres combined in a unique, soulful, stylistic way
“Our main message is one of understanding and unity for all of humanity. We want people to feel like our music has something to teach them.” – Julia Johanan, iolite.
Being a huge fan of Leonard Cohen, Arianne Benick is thinking of one of his quotes when she explains her songwriting process for her Cincinnati-based band, iolite, which features Benick as lead vocalist and songwriter, keyboardist/songwriter and co-founder, Julia Johanan, Dan Barger on horns and percussion, and bassist, Shimon Israel. “I don’t feel like I can pick the songs or the melodies,” she says. “I feel like they pick me.”
Not pinned to one genre, iolite’s agile arrangements often pay homage to Jazz, Blues, and Reggae at the same time. Hearing iolite is like unearthing a multi-faceted jewel that’s mysteriously hard to classify. And being hard to classify seems to be part of iolite’s allure, which lends to another enigmatic thing about the band—its name. Drawing more from their combined energies rather than from any particular music genre, the band’s namesake comes from a semi-precious gemstone used by early Vikings for accurate navigation through the New World because it turned a deep indigo when aligned with sunrays. In comparison, Benick, whose lustrous voice seems to channel Sarah Vaughn, Norah Jones and Sade as muses, describes the band’s sound as hues of indigo, sapphire and deep purple. And like the gem, which is long-believed to possess metaphysical healing abilities that help one open up to a Higher Self, Johanan and Benick write music to help people open up their sub-consciousness and find metaphysical balance.
Benick’s intimate delivery over Israel’s grooving bass lines open listeners up to iolite’s universal messages of understanding self, impermanence, acceptance, patience and unity, as heard on tracks from the EP like “Be Wise,” “Night” and “Taking it Slow.” “Night’s” allusions of sun and moon (reflection of the sun/looking back at everyone….attract where you’re at….) talk about how people attract who they are on the inside. “We definitely use a lot of allegories to nature and life,” explains Johanan. Another song, “Rooms,” is a metaphor for personal space to grow after a break-up. Though women connect with the emotive lyrics and men connect with the sensual, smooth grooves, iolite’s fan base intersects binaries of age, race and gender. Playing throughout the tri-state with other avant-garde groups like Hip-Hop/Jazz trio, IsWhat?, they hope to build alliances with independent performers.
Before they became a band, Johanan met bass player, Israel in 2001 during her internship with Group Effort Studios in Northern Kentucky. After observing his recording session with reggae band Kaan’ Shuz, she and Israel began networking. Israel, a Grammy nominee from Cincinnati, had opened up for international reggae recording artists, Steel Pulse, Mighty Diamonds, Yellowman, Third World and Aswad. Minneola, NY native, Johanan began taking piano lessons at age five and earned a Bachelor’s in Electronic Media at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Israel invited her to audition as Kaan’ Shuz’s second keyboardist and she got the gig.
Johanan decided a year later that she wanted to start her own band, which slowly came to fruition. With nothing else to do one cold day in 2003, Johanan and friend, Benick, wrote a song together. They discovered a kinship through each other’s styles and kept writing. A few years later, they founded iolite, who had no permanent bass player until Israel saw them playing at The Greenwich and offered to come on board. “Shimon's style of playing and his experience with groove based music has really added a lot to iolite's sound, with rewriting most of the bass lines and adding a very experienced feel and authentic vibe to the band's original music,” says Johanan.
Before becoming iolite’s horn player and percussionist, Barger first met the group as a fan after sending iolite a MySpace.com email to compliment them on their style. Known on the music scene from playing with a diverse list of groups such as Poco Loco, Frequency, Lucky and the Magic, Los Honchos, RX2, the Windau Jazztet, Baoku and the Image Afro-Beat band, and Lo Fi, Barger was also a founding member of Salsa Caliente and wrote big band jazz arrangements premiered by the Pavilion Music Company Big Band and the Blanchester High School Jazz Ensemble. “Dan is very talented yet humble, and has been helpful in writing and figuring out the theory part of the music writing when we get stuck,” says Johanan. “He is also a solid rock in times of stress and frustration. We couldn't have asked for a better band mate.”
After a sold out show at the 2008 Mid Point Music Festival, two consecutive years of Cincinnati Entertainment Awards nominations, and a following from monthly sets at Blue Wisp Jazz Club and The Greenwich, iolite wants to keep on spreading good vibes and good music.
iolite EP Track Listing:
1. Be Wise
2. Good & Bad
3. Night
4. Rooms
5. Taking it Slow
-written by Mildred Fallen
!ATTENTION! SEEKING SERIOUS DRUMMER WHO HAS SOUL AND DESIRE TO COMMIT TO A GROWING AWESOME BAND, THAT'S YOU? SEND US A MESSAGE HERE OR AT iolite@fuse.net. CHECK BLOG FOR MORE DETAILS!
iolite, the music was hot! This group got so much soul it’s like WOW.I was blown away by how great they sound. Everyone! You got to check out this group out live!
I just wanted to express how much I enjoyed my iolite experience on Friday at the Northside Tavern. I am STILL glidin on the vibe. You sistas are AMAZING and you give a PHENOMENAL performance.
Lovin what you do...yeah, I am into you...your energy is true...I know because your vibe gave me a clue.
I had the pleasure of sub-drumming for this awesome band July 2nd...what a treat. Great musicians and wonderfully nice, professional people. It was a treat to get to play such soulful, heartfelt music and add what I could. Thanks Iolite! Call me again. mike from PROST band
Our new bassist Mikey Walter (form. of the Hypochondriacs) makes his 16 Piece Bucket debut Sat., June 27 @ Dirty Jack's. 5912 Vine St., Cincinnati OH 45216 We go on first at 10pm Also on the bill: Konniption Fit, L.O.H.E.D., Foxes on Fire ALL AGES DOORS AT 9PM
