Biography
An eclectic professional musician since the 1970’s, Cathy DeWitt has shared the stage and the airwaves with Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Garrison Keillor, Florida legend Will McLean, jazz pianist Rob Bargad, Afro-Cuban percussionist Bobby Sanabria, and others.
Cathy was destined to be a musician; it is literally in her blood. Before she was born her father Bruce led his own band in New Orleans, regularly opening for Louis Armstrong at Pete Fountain’s place. At a very early age music filled her house, from her father’s Dixieland trumpet and stride piano to the Rachmaninoff and Chopin pieces her brother Peter, a prodigy pianist, rehearsed every day on the grand piano in the living room. As the family gathered to watch the television variety shows of the 60s, she heard all the famous singers interpreting the great songbook of jazz and show tunes, and learned the lyrics to many of them.
After honing her harmonic skills in church choirs, smalll ensembles and college singing groups, Cathy met and began performing with jazz guitarist Charlie Bush. This was the beginning of her career as a jazz singer, which led to performances throughout Florida, as well as New York, California, London, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. She also spent several years strumming guitar in coffeehouses and pounding the keys in a rhythm & blues band, where she sang harmony with the women who now form the basis of her all women's band, Patchwork.
In 1995 she found an unexpected setting for her musical versatility: Shands Arts in Medicine program in Gainesville, Florida, where she continues to lead a pioneering, world-renowned Music in Medicine program. From elevator singalongs to hallway concerts to bedside harp in the ICUs, Cathy uses music to transform the hospital environment and the patient experience. Her many influences, from Joni Mitchell to Carole King, from Ella Fitzgerald to Diana Krall and Norah Jones, from the Temptations to Aretha Franklin, have proved to be valuable partners in her work as Musician in Residence and Music Program Coordinator. She also trains and mentors other hospital musicians, and gives workshops on music as stress-management for caregivers.
Instrumentation
Cathy DeWitt sings, writes, plays piano, guitar, bowed psaltery and harp.
In Patchwork:
Janet Rucker sings, plays guitar, banjo and piano. Jolene Jones sings and plays mandolin.
Tammy Murray sings, plays fiddle, banjo, mandolin, hammered dulcimer and guitar.
Annie McPherson sings and plays acoustic bass.
Discography
1. DREAMSONG, released in 2006, is a CD of all-original music that was inspired by dreams, spiritual experiences and other sources beyond the ordinary. "...an inspiring work of art!" "...lyrics infused with grace and love..."
Several cuts are played on online radio stations such as One Vibration and Unity Online.
2. LOVE NOTES--an album of live jazz performances where Cathy is accompanied by great players on piano, sax, guitar, in everything from duos to six-piece groups. The cream of the crop from a ten-year-long jazz concert series that was broadcast on the local NPR affiliate. "..I listen to this over and over...her voice is so warm and inviting..." "an astonishingly clear upper register..."
3. PATCHWORK RIDES AGAIN: the long-awaited second album by Florida's favorite five-piece female fiddlin' flat-pickin' folkies! Every song a surprise, completely different from the one before, except for the thread of the wonderful harmonies. "Stunning, soaring vocals..." "What fun energy!"
4. PATCHWORK LIVE IN CONCERT: the first CD by this five-piece folk group, also recorded live, Includes award winners "Real True Home," "Florida Home" and "The Waves Roll In (Gamble's Song)."
5. AUTUMN IN NEW YORK: Recorded at a live concert in December 2001, after a visit to the forever-changed New York, this CD featuring Cathy's solid quartet MoonDancer has a nostalgic flavor and highlights the expressive tone of Dave Sloane on the tenor sax.
Links
| http://www.cathydewitt.com |