Donna Deussen: News

Just got a great review from All About Jazz, I'm very stoked. The review in its entirety can be read on my press/reviews page, but basically the reviewer (George Harris) totally GETS ME. Yay! Makes me happy...

Just picked up a steady gig at Beyond The Grape, in Glendale AZ (off the 101 Loop at Union Hills Ave.) with Dave Baradic on keys. It's a beautiful room and they have a fabulous wine selection and great appetizers. We'll be there every OTHER Wednesday from 6-8 pm, starting in March (the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays). Should be fun!

[Jazz] went from the classics to ragtime to Dixieland to swing to bebop to cool jazz.... But it's always jazz. You can put a new dress on her, a new hat, but no matter what kind of clothes you put on her, she's the same old broad.

– Lionel Hampton

I just read these haikus in my Berklee alumni magazine and they cracked me up... so I thought I'd share a few:

Free jazz temptation
Strikes during the bride's first dance
What would Wynton do?

Best Man pays sideman
Leader's greediness revealed
Rebellion ensues

Riffing on "Rudolph"
Musicians in red and green
Learn humility

Break time is over
Rest of band is returning
Now for that phone call

I'm sending a sub
Not to worry, he'll be fine
He's fresh out of rehab

The drummer helped
Me count the syllables in this
Haiku

Hi peeps - I'll be performing at the Tempe Arts Festival on March 31 and April 1... it's outdoors, so hopefully it's early enough in the year and the band and I won't be passing out from heat exhaustion! Looking forward to it, actually, should be lots of fun.

"I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know."
-- Billie Holiday

Well, I took the plunge and decided to leave L.A. - I love L.A. and always will, but new opportunities were arisin' in the desert... so I am now in Phoenix, AZ. And loving it! Now that the summer is over, the weather is GREAT and the jazz scene is thriving. Of course, I'm just a short drive from L.A. and can and will be going back-n-forth for gigs, recording sessions, etc.