Press

On Force of Nature (MCG Jazz, 2022):

Force of Nature charted in the top ten most-played new recordings on jazz radio nationwide for 12 straight weeks. June 27, 2022 marks week #18 that the new recording is in top 50 on the JazzWeek chart!

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What’s New at WDCB

Deanna Witkowski is a powerhouse of a pianist.
-Paul Abella, What’s New on WDCB

Force of Nature cover final JPG USE.jpeg

It’s awfully early in the year to be talking about the best jazz albums of 2022, but this is a gem.
-New York Music Daily

Let’s Call This

“Mary Lou Williams’ compositions sparkle and jump under Witkowski’s fingers and her love for the music illuminates every unexpected harmonic turn, bluesy melody and structural innovation.”
-John Chacona, Let’s Call This

“Witkowski is an astonishingly versatile bandleader, capable of playing lush mainstream music one minute and moving comfortably into avant-garde waters the next.”

－Time Out New York

“One of the best of the new generation of jazz piano players.”

－Jazz Journal International

“If, among contemporary pianists, Brad Mehldau and Bill Charlap represent the gold standard, then Deanna Witkowski deservedly ranks as their sterling sister.”

－JazzTimes

“Witkowski’s playing is consistently thrilling, and her musical imagination seems boundless.”

－All Music Guide

On Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul
(LIturgical Press, 2021):

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“A meticulously researched and well-told tale, Mary Lou Williams is rife with cliffhangers, foreshadowing, tragic losses, psychic and religious visions, and unexpected intrusions of grace. It is also, to this reader’s delight, a labor of love.”

– Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, author of Flannery O’Connor: Fiction Fired by Faith

"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

“Witkowski offers readers a glimpse into the inner life of a ‘musical contemplative,’ who was one of the great jazz pianists, arrangers, and composers of the 20th century. Although befriended, encouraged, and counseled by several priests and women religious, Mary Lou Williams remains unknown among most African American Catholics. This contribution to the People of God series provides an opportunity for us to discover and appreciate the musical talent and spiritual commitment of one of our own.”

– M. Shawn Copeland, Professor Emerita, Department of Theology, Boston College

 

Press Articles

 

MORE Interviews, PODCASTs, and Articles

Hear Deanna on the Things Not Seen podcast (The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams)

Hear Deanna on The God Show podcast (Mary Lou Williams)

Hear Deanna on the Christopher Closeup podcast


Read The City Where Jazz is Love: Pittsburgh and Mary Lou Williams to learn how Mary Lou Williams brought Deanna to Pittsburgh after spending twenty-three years as a New Yorker.

Hear Deanna discuss Williams with host Bob Studebaker on WESA’s The Confluence (beginning at 22:02)

Hear Deanna speak with host Jim Cunningham on this WQED interview just prior to debuting with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra playing music by Mary Lou Williams. 

Hear Deanna play live at WQED in this second interview.