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Deanna Witkowski

Known for her adventurous, engaging music that heals the soul, pianist-composer-vocalist Deanna Witkowski moves with remarkable ease between Brazilian, jazz, classical, and sacred music. The award- winning bandleader releases her seventh recording, Force of Nature (MCG Jazz) in January 2022, a companion piece to her biography, Mary Lou Williams: Music For The Soul (Liturgical Press), published in September 2021. The two projects cap a twenty-year deep dive into the ground-breaking impact of Williams’ life and music, making Witkowski one of the few living authorities on the iconic pianist. As a sought after Williams expert, she has presented at the Kennedy Center, Duke University, Fordham University, and performed Williams’ compositions as a featured guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

In concert and on recordings, Witkowski’s explosive performances combine virtuosity and heart, telling stories that reveal her innate curiosity of the human condition. Her albums range from powerhouse arrangements of Cole Porter standards (Wide Open Window; Length of Days) to sparkling trio re- imaginings of traditional hymns (Makes the Heart to Sing: Jazz Hymns) to solo piano that blurs the lines between Brazilian, jazz, and classical (Raindrop: Improvisations with Chopin). Witkowski has recorded with Grammy nominees John Patitucci, Kate McGarry, and Donny McCaslin, and has performed and toured with renowned vocalists Lizz Wright, Nnenna Freelon, Erin Bode, Filó Machado, and Vanessa Rubin.

Dedicated to bringing communities together through jazz, Witkowski has worked as a guest music leader in over one hundred churches across the United States. Her weekly video series, “Off the Page: Sacred Jazz,” shares practical resources for church musicians and her jazz hymn arrangements have been purchased by over 500 churches.

A prolific choral composer, Witkowski has won multiple competitions for her concert and sacred works. Commissions and new compositions have been funded by organizations including the New York State Council on the Arts (for her Afro-Brazilian project, the Nossa Senhora Suite) and the Choral Arts Initiative PREMIERE|Project Festival.

Following in the steps of her chosen soul companion and lifelong mentor, Witkowski relocated to Mary Lou Williams’ hometown of Pittsburgh in 2020. She is a second-year doctoral student in jazz studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Awards

2021: Theodore Mother Guerin Research Travel Grant (University of Notre Dame) for “Writing Friendships: Letter Correspondence Between Jazz Pianist Mary Lou Williams and Women Religious, 1961–1981” 2021: SATB modern justice anthem, “We Walk in Love,” is selected as the sole composition to celebrate Music in Our Schools Month by the 15,000 teacher member Pennsylvania State Education Association, Mideastern Region, for a 32-voice virtual choir comprised of students from ten high schools. 2017: Sacatar Institute Fellowship, Bahia, Brazil (2018 eight week residency) 2016: New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) fiscal sponsorship for new Afro-Brazilian project, the Nossa Senhora Suite 2015: Berger-Carter Research Fund grant recipient, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, NJ Research on jazz in Catholicism in the late 1960s/early 1970s 2011: Finalist for a Fulbright research/teaching award in São Paulo, Brazil 2002: Winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Jacksonville, FL Fan Award 2016: Hothouse New York Fans Decision Jazz Award- best pianist Composing- Awards and commissions 2017: Winner of the ChoralArt New England Carol Contest (SATB a cappella piece, “A Christmas Carol”) 2017: Winner of the Colorado Chorale commissioning contest (2018 premiere) 2017: Winner of the Annual Hymn Search of The Hymn Society in the US and Canada (“We Belong to God”) 2017: Justice Choir call for scores: SATB song, “We Walk in Love,” is selected for the Justice Choir Songbook, Vol. 1 2017: St. Peter Episcopal Church, Astabula, OH (SA commission, “Who Do You Say?”) 2016: MusicSpoke: Selected as a MusicSpoke affiliated composer 2016: Lutheran Arts’ Martin Luther Hymn Prize recipient (new hymn and anthem commission) 2016: Illinois-ACDA Composition Contest Winner (for SSAA piece, “Where Shadow Chases Light”) 2015: Composer-Librettist Studio at New Dramatists, New York One of five composers selected for the annual music-theatre workshop 2015: The Astoria Choir Call for Scores Winner (for SSAATTB piece, “Glistening Lily”) 2013: The American Prize in Choral Composition semifinalist (for “Glistening Lily”) 2013-15: Park Avenue Christian Church, New York Over fifteen original works for Sanctuary Choir, Gospel Choir, and congregation 2010: United Methodist Women’s Assembly, St. Louis, MO (theme song for 6000 attendees) 2004: Concentus Women’s Choir, Rochester, NY (SSAA commission, ‘I learned that her name was Proverb’)

Deanna Witkowski: Force of Nature

Read "Force of Nature" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
April 23, 2022

Pianist Deanna Witkowski has been studying the life and work of pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams for twenty years. This has resulted in her writing a biography of the artist, Mary Lou Williams; Music For The Soul (Liturgical Press, 2021) and making this companion album of her interpretations of Williams' music. Working in a trio format with occasional trumpet from Clay Jenkins, Witkowski covers all phases of Williams' musical career, her time writing for Andy Kirk in ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Releases, Jazz Birthdays With A Celebration of the 48th Anniversary of Joni Mitchell's Court And Spark

by Mary Foster Conklin
February 7, 2022

This broadcast presents new releases from vocalists Irene Jalenti, Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch, Sasha Dobson, saxophonist Azar Lawrence, trumpeter Thomas Heflin, and pianist Deanna Witkowski's tribute to Mary Lou Williams, plus birthday shoutouts to Dolly Parton, Barbara Carroll, Etta James, among others. In the second hour, a celebration of the 48th anniversary of Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of pandemic so they ...

Album Review

Deanna Witkowski: Makes the Heart to Sing: Jazz Hymns

Read "Makes the Heart to Sing: Jazz Hymns" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 16, 2017

The improvisatory phrase and the song of praise don't stem from the same place, but who's to say they can't break bread together? With Makes The Heart To Sing: Jazz Hymns, pianist Deanna Witkowski erases lines between the strict-toned sacred and malleable secular, creating music that manages to be tradition-minded and open-minded all at once. The fifteen tracks contained herein pull from myriad sources and eras. An African-American spiritual cozies up next to a 17th-century German hymn, ...

Album Review

Deanna Witkowski: Raindrop: Improvisations with Chopin

Read "Raindrop: Improvisations with Chopin" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
July 25, 2015

Pianist Deanna Witkowski is a truly versatile artist and consummate musician. Her superb forays into sacred music in a jazz framework, for instance, are captivating in their free flowing spirituality and her subtly adventurous category defying explorations thrill in their spontaneity and their imagination. On her fifth release, the intimate Raindrop she goes solo in interpreting and embellishing eight of polish composer Frederic Chopin's deeply emotive pieces. She elegantly peppers these with fragments of Bossa Nova and other ...

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Album Review

Deanna Witkowski: From This Place

Read "From This Place" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
May 14, 2009

Deanna Witkowski takes the spiritual road on From This Place through gospel, Catholic liturgy, blues and jazz, and 19th century text to which she has written music.

Sacred music and jazz have come together through Mary Lou Williams and Duke Ellington, to name two, while John Coltrane brought in his own ardent beliefs to several of his compositions. Witkowski's sacerdotal calling is strongly manifested, particularly in the sincerity of her singing.

“Let My Prayer Rise (Psalm ...

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Take Five With...

Take Five With Deanna Witkowski

by AAJ Staff
April 22, 2009

Meet Deanna Witkowski: Winner of the 2002 Great American Jazz Piano Competition and a past guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, pianist/composer/vocalist Deanna Witkowski has been heralded for her “consistently thrilling" playing and her “boundless imagination" (All Music Guide). Her brand new fourth release, From This Place, focuses on her sacred jazz material with musicians including Donny McCaslin and John Patitucci.

Witkowski was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday on April 12, 209; her trio will present Moving With the ...

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Album Review

Deanna Witkowski: Length of Days

Read "Length of Days" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
January 4, 2006

Deanna Witkowski marches on to the sound of some well-crafted tunes on her latest release, Length of Days. The pianist/vocalist blends standards, her own compositions, and a chilled-out, laid-back, and unusual, but endearing version of “Hi-Lili Hi-Lo, to winning effect.

Witkowski plays with clarity, never rushes, and keeps away from a welter of notes that could clog her flow. Her playing resonates with harmonic skill as she feeds a composition with ideas that permeate, fill, and extend into ...

Recording

Pianist Deanna Witkowski Presents Trio Arrangements Of 14 Hymns On "Makes The Heart To Sing: Jazz Hymns," Set For November 3 Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
September 22, 2017

Grace, serenity, and rhapsody are on abundant display throughout the 14 songs pianist Deanna Witkowski performs with her trio on Makes the Heart to Sing: Jazz Hymns, set for release November 3 on Tilapia Records. One would expect this to be the case, given that the source material is not the Great American Songbook, but the centuries- old trove of hymnody used in churches around the world. Witkowski succeeds in offering a luminously lyrical piano trio session interpreting a spiritually ...
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Interview

The Sacred Jazz of Deanna Witkowski

Source: JamaicaMusic Offbeat
November 22, 2010

Pianist, vocalist, composer and winner of the 2002 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Deanna Witkowski is one of the more important sacred jazz artists today. With a very original and virtuous style, she mixes contemporary and Latin jazz genres doing so from a spiritual perspective. Based in New York, Deanna has worked in different projects relating to sacred jazz. Most important is her album From this Place that mainly focused on liturgical music and feature saxophonist Donny McCaslin, bassist John ...
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Performance / Tour

Filo Machado and Deanna Witkowski on US tour from Oct 10-21

Source: Deanna Witkowski
September 26, 2010

São Paulo-based guitarist/vocalist Filó Machado joins NYC pianist/vocalist Deanna Witkowski in US tour from Oct 10-21 Witkowski's playing is consistently thrilling, and her musical imagination seems boundless. —All Music Guide Machado's ideas reach beyond one continent...he has cited Joyce and Flora Purim as influences, but he also has listened to Jon Hendricks and his giddy torrent of syllables derive from jazz. —Downbeat São Paulo-based guitarist/composer/vocalist Filó Machado and New York-based pianist/composer/vocalist Deanna Witkowski join forces from October 10-21 with appearances ...
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Performance / Tour

Filo Machado Joins Deanna Witkowski in Concert from 3/19-23 in VT, MA, NYC

Source: Michael Ricci
March 10, 2010

Sao Paulo-based guitarist/vocalist Filo Machado joins New York pianist/vocalist Deanna Witkowski in East Coast performances on 3/19, 3/20, and 3/23 Witkowski's playing is consistently thrilling, and her musical imagination seems boundless. --All Music Guide Deanna plays as if she were writing a letter to someone who does not exist. Her piano announces all the autumns yet to come. -Guinga, Rio-based guitarist/composer/vocalist Machado's ideas reach beyond one continent...he has cited Joyce and Flora Purim as influences, but he also has listened ...
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Performance / Tour

Pianist/Composer/Vocalists Deanna Witkowski and Brenda Earle Share a Sacred Jazz Double-Bill at Cornelia Street Caf on Thurs, Sept 10 at 8:30 PM

Source: Michael Ricci
August 26, 2009

What: Deanna Witkowski Quartet and Brenda Earle’s Sacred Voices with Felipe Salles, soprano and tenor sax; Ike Sturm, bass; Scott Latzky, drums (Deanna Witkowski Quartet); Julie Hardy, Jonathan Kline and Nathan Hetherington, voices; Keith Ganz, guitar; Ike Sturm, bass; Jared Schonig, drums (Brenda Earle’s Sacred Voices) When: Thurs, Sept 10 from 8:30-10:30 pm Where: Cornelia Street Caf, 29 Cornelia St, New York (A, B, C, D, E to West 4th; 1 to Christopher St) Cost: $10 admission Witkowski has combined ...
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Website

Download Three Free MP3s by Pianist Deanna Witkowski

Source: All About Jazz
April 24, 2009

Learn more about pianist Deanna Witkowski, then download three free tracks, including one from her latest release From This Place. Enjoy! About Deanna Witkowski Continuing in a tradition while pioneering new ways of viewing the world around them has always been the daily work of artists, whether they be jazz musicians or religious mystics. In the case of pianist/composer/vocalist Deanna Witkowski, the paths of practicing the disciplines of living as a jazz musician and as a person of faith have ...
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Performance / Tour

Deanna Witkowski CD Release Concert

Source: All About Jazz
March 17, 2009

Pianist/composer/vocalist Deanna Witkowski releases her awaited fourth album From This Place this April with a CD release concert being held Wednesday, April 22 at 7 pm at Saint Peters Church, located at 619 Lexington Avenue, New York.

Following this event will be a special meet the artist reception. Witkowski will be performing with her quartet featuring acclaimed musicians Peter Brainin, soprano and tenor sax; Michael OBrien, bass and Scott Latzky, drums.

Witkowski has combined the spirituality of the soul and ...
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Performance / Tour

Deanna Witkowski and Sarah Manning at Jazz Gallery on August 4th

Source: All About Jazz
July 25, 2007

Deanna Witkowski Quartet and Sarah Manning's Shatter the Glass at the Jazz Gallery on Saturday, August 4 On August 4th, east meets west at the Jazz Gallery with performances by the Deanna Witkowski Quartet and Sarah Manning's Shatter the Glass. Witkowski, a pianist/composer/vocalist with an illuminating presence in the New York scene, will play the first set at 9 pm. West Coast saxophonist and composer Sarah Manning makes her New York City debut at the 10:30 set with her new ...
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Event

Deanna Witkowski Solo Performance at the Fazioli Salon, 8 June at 8 PM

Source: All About Jazz
June 1, 2007

Pianist Deanna Witkowski will perform a solo concert at the Fazioli Salon at Klavierhaus at 211 West 58th Street in New York City, on Friday, 8 June at 8 pm. Tickets are available online at pianoculture.com or by calling Klavierhaus at 212.245.4535. Winner of the 2002 Great American Jazz Piano Competition and a past guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, Deanna Witkowski looks to diverse musical worlds in her fusions of jazz, brazilian, afro-cuban, classical, and sacred music. An acclaimed ...
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Event

Deanna Witkowski and Dr. Tammy Kernodle present Moving with the Spirit: Jazz Freedom in Church

Source: All About Jazz
December 24, 2006

Mary Lou Williams biographer Dr. Tammy Kernodle and pianist/composer Deanna Witkowski present Moving with the Spirit: Jazz Freedom in Church, Friday, January 12, 2007 at 8 pm at St. Peter's Church, New York City

“Witkowski's playing is consistently thrilling, and her musical imagination seems boundless"--Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

“Dr. Kernodle writes about Mary Lou Williams with clarity and force"--Rev. Peter F. O'Brien, SJ, Executive Director, The Mary Lou Williams Foundation

Biographer Dr. Tammy Kernodle and pianist/composer Deanna Witkowski will ...
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MUSIC PRAISE: Witkowski's playing is consistently thrilling, and her musical imagination seems boundless. -Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

One of the best of the new generation of jazz piano players. -Bruce Crowther, Jazz Journal International

PRAISE FOR DEANNA'S BOOK, MARY LOU WILLIAMS: MUSIC FOR THE SOUL: "A beautifully written and expertly researched biography of one of the most fascinating Catholic artists of our time. Deanna Witkowski, a musician herself, brings to life a whole era in this engrossing new book about art, music, love, perseverance, and faith." －James Martin, SJ, author of Learning to Pray