Elise Witt

"Elise is a state treasure and we are so proud to be able to support her and her work." - Jan Selman, Chair

"A performer to remember with international savvy & personal charm" - Milennium Stage

"A really delightful concert from the honey voiced Atlanta songwriter who sings the world." - Out of Doors Festival

"This may be the most diverse, interesting album I have reviewed this year."
Vic Heyman
Review of "Open the Window"
CD by Elise Witt - The Folk Music Magazine

"Wide horizons and a repertoire that borrows from many countries with a spirit of universal humanism...
I have been through your CD, Love Being Here... I thought that Marlene Dietrich was back! You have a wide scope of songs, country, jazzy, with a nice and hot (if not sulfurous) cabaret songs with a voice which travels all the way through the spine and makes one dream and vibrate for hours! Congratulations!" - France

"Best Local Traditional Folk Act"
"To confine Elise Witt to the narrow realm of "traditional folk" would be a mistake. True, those are her roots, and she's careful not to lose sight of folk's long-standing role in social change. Her "Open the Window" is destined to become a new signature song for change, in fact. With Witt, the notion of song that's communal, rather than just performed by an artist, is important. But Witt's absorption of song traditions from across the world - what she describes as "global, local and homemade songs" - says more about what folk represents in the 21st century." - Creative Loafing

"Fun, playful, enjoyable, exciting, thought-provoking, and just plain old good music" - Atlanta GA

"Her excellence as a composer is evident in the original songs." - Bob Nowell

Atlanta-based Elise Witt isn’t content simply to write and sing songs; she wears her heart on her sleeve and tells us what she believes with every word, every intelligent note. You could say that about most folk singers, but I don’t know anyone before who has invoked philosopher-monk Thich Nat Hahn in an up-tempo contemplation on death (“Looking for Ways to Disappear” accompanied by L.A. Tuten’s electric bass and Bobby Lee Rogers’ slide guitar), or dared to improvise on a beautifully complex poem by Brazilian Carlos Schroeder (“Un Dia Antes”). Both appear on her ninth and newest CD, “Love Being Here.”
Anyone who listens closely to this CD will know by the end of the 15th and final song that Elise is an artistic adventurer, a musical romantic, a world traveler and linguist, thinker, mover and agent for change.  There’s a lovely edge to this collection, like falling over the cliff just to see what’s there. What Elise finds is all positive; she’s too much in love with life to ever sing the blues.
Compared with her past CDs, this one includes more jazz and world music and her classically-trained voice enjoys the challenge. Who can resist the line “I’d love to kiss your dancing toes” in Elise’s rendering of Peggy Lee’s “I Love Being Here with You” (yes, that Peggy Lee,) and her fun, tongue-twisting jazz duet with frequent collaborator Mick Kinney in his composition “You Got Me.” You have to hear Elise and Mick play with the lyrics to understand that the words rodeo yodeling, Mnemosene, and possum really do all belong in the same song.  Elise’s composition “You Know” is more jazz than folk too, with Jez Graham’s piano setting the pace.
The thoughtful organization of the material means that the classic jazz of Fats Waller’s “You’re My Dish” doesn’t sound out of place on the same CD as the familiar “Black Orpheus” theme and Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose,” which Elise strips down to its melodic essentials, (accompanied by Renato Pompilio on guitar) with none of Piaf’s affectations.
Elise seems most at home when singing in romance languages such as French and Spanish (the supremely romantic tango “Si Tu Supieras”), Portuguese and Italian (her own heart-felt “Una Nuova Armonia” and Enzo Fusco’s “Dicetencello Vuje” about a Cyrano de Bergerac-style courting custom). There’s German too. Her poignant rendering of “Singen Macht Alles Gut,” with Takana Miyamoto on piano, stands nicely on its own, but read the liner notes to get the full story – and more insight into why Elise sings. Here in the States we think of world music as something beyond U.S. borders, but Elise’s gentle composition “Mimosa Time” is a sweet reminder that the South, too, is its own country with music the world can enjoy.
A talented family of musicians joins Elise on this CD including Maurice Turner, Don Erdman (both superb on “I Love Being Here With You” and “You’re My Dish”), Scott Douglas, Beverly Botsford (exotic percussion), Daniel Brown, Rodger French and many others.
* Gillian Renault is a freelance writer who has written extensively about the performing arts for the Los Angeles News, the Herald Examiner, Dance Magazine, California Magazine, and many other outlets. She has hosted arts programs for KCRW radio (NPR affiliate) and Pacifica station KPFK, both in Los Angeles. - Gillian Renault

Quiero expresar que me encanto mucho su musica. Fue un dia super
fantastico conocerles cuando pasaron el domingo pasado aqui en SIT en
Brattleboro. Tambien quiero agradecerles por mi experiencia de cantar las canciones con Uds. Creo
que su musica hace que la cultura latina cruza muchas fronteras con
otras. Voy a tocar el CD para mis
alumnos mañana en clase.
Muchisimas gracias!
(I would like to let you know that I was thoroughly enchanted by your music. It was a super fantastic day to get to know you this Sunday when you played at the School for International Training in Brattleboro. I would also like to thank you for the opportunity to join you in singing. I believe that music creates a bridge by which the Latin culture can be connected to so many other cultures. I will play your CD for my students in class tomorrow.
Many many thanks!) - SIT Spanish professor