Debbie Denke

Debbie Denke is a classically trained pianist with a passion for jazz improvisation and a dedicated music educator. She is excited to share piano improvisation ideas and shortcuts to encourage others to sound as good as can be ASAP through her educational books and companion audio play-along albums.

Ms Denke is known for her signature style of Inspirational Jazz Piano. Her father and mentor Frank Denke helped Debbie get her first professional jobs playing piano and organ in San Francisco Bay Area churches when she was 15. During her college years, Ms. Denke studied piano classics by day and played jazz piano in coffee houses and clubs by night. She holds both a B.A. and M.A. in Piano Performance from the University of California Santa Barbara. Today Debbie specializes in teaching improvisation, jazz theory, and composition. Ms. Denke is the author of several book/audio methods on keyboard improvisation, including "The Aspiring Jazz Pianist", "Amazing Phrasing Keyboard", and "The Complete Church Pianist". She concertizes as a solo and ensemble jazz pianist, singer, gospel choir accompanist, recording artist, and church musician. Her recordings include the jazz piano standards album, "It’s All About YOU!", the meditative hymn album "Peace Prayer", in addition to the instructional companion play-along albums that accompany her books. Albums are available here at Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Music. Backing tracks in digital format for "The Complete Church Pianist" are found at Bandcamp: https://debbiedenke.bandcamp.com.

The author also enjoys creating frequent YouTube music videos, many contain instructional tips for piano arranging and improvisation ideas for both the jazz and church keyboardist. Future plans include recording & publishing her Inspirational Piano jazz/church Preludes & Postludes, recording works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and other classic composers adding original jazz twists – plus making a new album of her solo piano arrangements with improvisation inspired by traditional hymns and spirituals.

Debbie Denke lives in Santa Barbara with her musician husband Robert Kim Collins (bassist, vocal director, jazz educator, composer, voice artist) and the family chocolate colored rescue dog named Bear. Their daughters Melody and Madeline are young adults involved in Pilates coaching, dance arts, health science, and humanities with an emphasis in international studies, from the California Coast to Korea.