Jazz Musician Deanna Witkowski, friend of Bethesda and occasional substitute pianist, is beginning her much anticipated sacred music recording on February 1. As a musician who has played in churches across the country, written jazz for sacred settings, and taught seminars about the use of jazz in worship, Deanna has collected a body of work that is finally going to be recorded!
Bethesda Covenant Church is supporting Deanna in her project by receiving a special offering on Sunday, February 17. You are also encouraged to support her individually, especially if you would like to pre-purchase a CD or give in other ways.
Please visit her website www.deannawitkowski.com or see her letter below for more information about her exciting journey and how you can be a part of this project!
Dear Friends,
Greetings from New York! I am writing to let you know about an exciting phase in my musical career that I believe will affect not only my own music-making but ultimately will bring new musical life into many places of worship. For the past seven years, I have dreamed of doing a full-length recording of my original sacred music. In 1999, I recorded a demo of new music that I had composed during my sojourn as music director at All Angels’ Church here in New York. I used the demo to let other churches know about my work and to help me to procure bookings for concerts and services whenever I would tour. Literally every time I would give a concert or play in a service as a guest musician, congregants would inevitably ask me if I had a CD of my sacred music. I am happy to report that I am finally taking steps to be able to answer, “yes!” On February 1 and 2, I will begin recording my sacred music CD at Bennett Studios (http://bennettstudios.com) with Donny McCaslin on saxophones, John Patitucci on bass, and Scott Latzky on drums.
Bennett has produced many Grammy-winning recordings, John is a Grammy winner, and Donny is a former Grammy nominee (and I hope to be a future Grammy winner!!). Scott Latzky has been playing with me since I moved to New York ten years ago, and even worked with me in the early days when I was writing for the gospel choir at All Angels’ Church. All of these musicians have been very supportive of my music and I am eagerly anticipating our time together in the studio.
You may be wondering why it has taken me up until now to make a sacred jazz recording. The one-word answer is simple: finances. For each of my three recordings, I spent upwards of $20,000 per recording to cover all of the expenses involved: studio costs to record, mix, and master (each piece of which requires multiple visits to the studio); musician fees; graphic designer fees; duplication fees; and publicist fees. Just to cover my initial tracking costs in February, I will spend $9000; I expect to spend a total of approximately $25,000 to have the CD completed and ready for a September 2008 release.
This is where this letter comes in. I am unable to finance this recording with credit card debt (as I have sometimes done in the past). I truly believe that there are enough friends, fans, and churches that have expressed interest in purchasing a sacred music recording--- all of you---- that I am asking you to seriously consider making a tax-deductible contribution (yes, tax-deductible) towards seeing this recording become a reality. Without your help, I will not be able to record and release this project. For those of you who choose to make a contribution, I will include your name (or your organization’s name) in a listing of appreciated donors on a prominent CD insert. And for those of you who contribute online, I will also reply with an email containing a free mp3 preview of one of my sacred pieces, “Never Before,” a three-part a capella piece featuring myself, Kate McGarry, and Julie Hardy. This piece was originally written for a lessons and carols service as a mediation on the Magnificat, so it is highly suitable for this time of year! (If you’d like to hear a sample of this piece- or of other pieces in my sacred music catalog- visit http://deannajazz.com. I will continue to post sheet music pdfs of all of the tracks that will be on the recording so that other musicians can also play these pieces!)
My sacred jazz recording is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of this recording may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. There are two ways for you to make a contribution: online or via snail mail. To make an online donation, visit http://deannajazz.com. Both the home page and the sacred music page contain direct links to the online donation form at Fractured Atlas. If you make a contribution online, and wish to also pre-order a CD, you will need to do each transaction separately (the pre-order is through PayPal and is not tax-deductible; the contribution through Fractured Atlas is tax-deductible). For snail mail, please send contributions to: Deanna Witkowski; 1 River Place #1116; New York, NY; 10036. Checks should be made payable to Fractured Atlas, with “in behalf of Witkowski sacred jazz recording” in the memo line. Again, please note that if you wish to order a CD, you must include a separate check made payable to myself for $17 per CD (which includes shipping) and indicate “CD order” on the memo line.
Please know that although I am beginning to record in February, the ongoing process of moving from rough tracks to a finished recording ready for release is anticipated to take until September. Therefore, you can consider making a contribution at any point during this time frame. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generous support. Knowing that you are behind this project will help to free my spirit even more as I am in the studio making music with my quartet.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday season,
Deanna Witkowski
PS- If you are unable or do not wish to make a donation, but would like to simply pre-order the CD on my website, go to http://deannajazz.com to pre-order through PayPal. As soon as the CD is completed, I will personally autograph your copy and will send the CD to you. Pre-ordering does help me with finances, and I thank you for considering this alternative option.
