"She has not only a beautiful sound on the instrument, but a very mature sense of phrasing and solo development... Ila also has an original sensibility in her composing, something I always felt helped establish one's own personal voice, which she definitely exhibits."

Steve Cardenas
(jazz guitarist)


Brilliant young jazz guitarist Ila Cantor plays … with a spectacular, legato precision; she cut her teeth on gypsy jazz, but she has a whole lot of styles … Pretty impressive.

Lucid Culture
(see full review)


The compositions were all her own, and they have a hypnotic, introspective quality… her sound and use of chords and rhythm are new and ahead of their time.

Jazz Wax
(see full review)


Hers is an original discourse, fresh, stimulating. Her compositions explore equidistant sonorities to free jazz and jazz rock not lacking the capacity to surprise. It is worthy to note her solos, constructed with stealth but undoubtedly felt, until they reach an ecstatic climax of singular intensity.

Javier Aspiazu in
Matemática sonora


…There are some recordings that, frankly, are not worth describing; they must be lived. This is one of them… This is a work of such freshness imbued with an adventuresome spirit so free that it more than fulfills Whitney Balliett’s dictum that jazz has to surprise us. Guitarist Ila Cantor … has one foot in jazz and the other in rock, with certain influences from funk. … “Man vs. Robot” [is] a happy and melodious triumph of humanity over machines. Listen to her.

Rafael Vega Curry
in El Nuevo Dia


IIa Cantor's music is imaginative and fresh… Mother Nebula surprised me and [is] irrefutable proof of the quality and vitality of… Ila Cantor … young guitarist who moves with confidence within jazz harmonies, spiced with touches of rock that do her – and us –  much good.

“Mmm…” has that certain populist touch, that accessible sound and a catchy melody that will stay with you for a long time. I would also like to point out “Rock”, a tune that develops in crescendo to the fiery solos by Carlquist and Cantor, the intricate “BLT”, the very lovely and rhythmically attractive “Man vs Robot”, as well as the descriptive “Resaca”. The disc closes with the admirably cut “Before and” and “After”, which is not the end, for at the end a secret tune awaits…[In] “I Don’t Want to Be a Pain Anymore”  … Ila Cantor sings in an irresistibly innocent voice, that evokes Maureen Tucker of the Velvet Underground on “After Hours.”

Ila Cantor and her quartet are definitely new talent worth watching.

Alberto Marina Castillo in
Toma Jazz