Celebrating the great american Songbook

 


Deanna & the Downbeats has a unique sound that blends the great American songbook, jazz, latin, pop, cabaret & lounge…you never know what you’ll get when Deanna takes the stage and the Downbeats dive into a groove!

Deanna Maio specializes in celebrating the best of American classic pop, jazz, blues, and the Great American Songbook.

Blending classic jazz style with vocal standards, show tunes, torch songs, and original compositions, the group’s repertoire recalls the halcyon days of jazz and lounge singers such as Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, and Rosemary Clooney. Mixing equal parts sass and class, Deanna heats things up as the sexy chanteuse while The Downbeats stoke the fire with swinging rhythms and hot solos.

Deanna & The Downbeats was born in February 2007 after trumpeteer James M. Gregg approached best friend and vocalist Deanna Maio about starting a group together. James and Deanna and had spent many hours over the previous two years singing and playing through fakebooks full of standards, torch songs and ballads, and wondered what would happen if they took the music out of the practice room and on to the stage. The pair was already working together in musical groups The Swing Sisters and the Bureau of Standards Big Band, and sought a new avenue for their musical collaboration.

Performing their first show just a few months later at Tony Starlight’s, the band received an enthusiastic response and calls for more. Now the band continues to play for appreciative audiences looking for something new and different yet still familiar and comfortable at the same time.

In the spirit of their idols, Deanna & The Downbeats pride themselves on an “anything goes” mentality, considering any style, decade, and song fair game for their genre-bending covers of such diverse writers as George Gershwin, Burt Bacharach, Cole Porter, Herb Alpert and even Madonna! No matter what style or song they are playing, Deanna & The Downbeats always infuse their music with energy, charisma and loads of fun!

 

Song List

A Sampling of the Many Tunes in Deanna’s Repertoire


Standards & Swing

A Fine Romance

Mame

Ain’t Misbehaving

Misty

All Of Me

More

As Time Goes Bye

My Funny Valentine

At Last

My Way

The Nearness Of You

Birth Of The Blues

New York, New York

Blue Moon

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

On A Clear Day

Cabaret

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Our Love Is Here To Stay

Chicago

Pennies From Heaven

Cheek To Cheek

Route 66

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

Satin Doll

Dream

Sentimental Journey

Embraceable You

Smile

Fly Me To The Moon

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

For Once In My Life

Stardust

Georgia

Stars Fell On Alabama

Honey Suckle Rose

Steppin’ Out With My Baby

Stompin’ At The Savoy

I Could Write A Book

I Don’t Know Why

Sweet Georgia Brown

I Get A Kick Out Of You

I Wish You Love

Take The “A” Train

I’ll Never Smile Again

They Can’t Take That Away From Me

In The Mood

Unforgettable

It Don’t Mean A Thing

Up A Lazy River

It Had To Be You

Watch What Happens

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

What A Wonderful World

When Your Smiling

Just The Way You Look Tonight

Witchcraft

Mack The Knife

Making Whoopee

And Many Many More…