Deanna Witkowski

Using her piano talents to combine jazz, Latin folk, and modern classical composition, Deanna Witkowski is a diverse and interesting musician. Playing as a classical flutist/pianist before discovering jazz, she met other musicians while in college that moved her towards the genre. Joining a few bands and ensembles for the next few years, she formed her first quintet in 1994 and performed with them until a four month trip to Africa found her thousands of miles away teaching piano in Kenya. Returning to Chicago in 1996, she recorded a demo with her grant money and studied with several Cuban jazz musicians during that period. The next year, she moved to New York and became the music director at All Angels' Episcopal Church where she crafted jazz/gospel masses. Releasing the Having to Ask album independently in 2000, she began studying with Brazilian drummer Vanderlei Pereira that year and left the church to follow her own musical path. Still writing and performing sacred music in her spare time, she composed a piece for a jazz choir and reactivated her quintet, all the while preparing for her next album. ~ Bradley Torreano