Donna Wickham » Donna’s Blog

Finally – CD release information

donnaW — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:38:02 +0000

We have finally announced the CD release date! We’ll celebrate with a concert at Dazzle on Oct. 30th. Please see Live Performances for details. Ashley Hoffman and I have been working on an absolutely beautiful package with stunning cover art buy the British artist Terri Windling.

Christmas 2010 Update

donnaW — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 17:36:32 +0000

Ha! I see that I am not to much of a blogger – no updates since July! Ah well. At least there has been good progress on the album. We finished recording in late November. Guitarist Dave Peterson flew in from the Seattle area for the last session, and the rest of the rhythm section was rounded out by Bijoux Barbosa on bass, Matt Houston on drums, and Art Lande on piano. We are essentially finished with editing and mixing, though I suppose there will always be little things that I want to fix. At some point I will need to leave well enough alone. The band sounds great, and recording engineer Scott Griess has done some truly amazing work. Of course, the angel of the whole project has been Art. He has been a stalwart presence the whole way through. What would I do without him?

Recording news

donnaW — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:29:02 +0000

Art Lande, Paul Mullikin and I recorded the three Anna Akhmatova songs today. An apt description of these songs might be aleatoric chamber jazz. Yeah, I know – a description like that should drive listeners away in droves. No matter what you call it, I was so fortunate to have Art and Paul on this date, as it is tough music to put together, and they were both fantastic. Hopefully, I’ll have a little taste up on the site soon!

Ready, set…..

donnaW — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:50:41 +0000

OK, we’re very close to recording the Anna Akhmatova set. Art Lande will be playing piano, and Paul Mullikin will be on percussion. We meet this coming Thursday to rehearse, and to set a recording date. More good news – Pete Sommer has agreed to play on another session that I am hoping will take place later in the summer!

Moving forward

donnaW — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:11:30 +0000

The third piece in the Anna Akhmatova set is finished. The poems cover very wide emotional ground, and setting them has been a very heavy journey. As summer approaches, I am turning my thoughts towards recording. If all goes well, the Akhmatova set and the title track will be in the can by the end of summer. Maybe more?

Another piece finished!

donnaW — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:34:22 +0000

Spring break has been very productive! I was able to finish setting another Anna Akhmatova poem titled I taught myself to live simply. I’m spending time with more of her poems in hope of setting one or two more to make a set. These pieces might be the next thing to go into the studio since they are just voice and piano with a little percussion.

So, I have a website.

donnaW — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:05:52 +0000

What on earth is this for? Right now, it’s about getting ready to market an album that is months away. Much of the music is written, though there is still more to come. Right now, I’m working on a set of miniatures based on poetry by Anna Akhmatova, and am arranging a piece about Norse mythology that will be part of a suite. Only one piece has been recorded, and that is still a rough cut (Pajaros – part of which you can hear on my homepage.) This is scary stuff for me. There are so many completely amazing musicians out there – does the world need another lame album by another lame chick singer? Today I heard a piece on the radio that was pretty bad. I’m guessing it got airplay just this once, because it’s a local project. If this project becomes some sort of bad vanity project, I hope I have the good sense to dump the project before trying to release it. Yikes – what a depressing thought!