Monday, September 10, 2012

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted here!

Hey guys,

It's been a long time since I've been on here! It's already my fourth year as the Braves Organist and I can't believe I've had the job for this long!

I've found a great balance between being the Braves Organist, a piano/organ/accordion teacher, as well as gigging musician. On most Saturdays, when I'm not at Turner Field, I play with an awesome Salsa band called, 'Orquesta MaCuba'. 'Orquesta MaCuba' is a 9 piece group with 2 trumpeters, 1 trombonist, a bassist, myself on piano, 2 vocalists/percussionists, and 2 percussionists (congas / timbales). The band plays in the style of Tito Puente, Fania All Starts, Celia Cruz, and Eddie Palmieri. The Saturday gigs are at Loca Luna in Midtown, near Amsterdam and Monroe.

Each month, at the jazz club, Churchill Grounds (next door to the Fox Theatre), I host a 'Hammond Organ Grooves' night with a different special guest vocalist each night. So far, we've had 2 of these nights (usually on the 2nd Sunday of each month, with October being the exception, which is the 3rd Sunday - the 21st). It's been incredible to play at the premier jazz club, doing what I was made to do - playing jazz on the Hammond Organ.

However, we really need more people to come out to Churchill Grounds on the 'Hammond Organ Grooves' night, or it won't last too long! I really urge you to come out at least once (the first set is at 8pm) to experience live jazz music. There's no experience in the world that compares to seeing real live musicians improvising and creating music on the spot! I'm addicted to this music and I'm sure if you gave it a chance, you'll really like it.

That's it for now. I'm going to try to update this blog a lot better these days; I promise!

Matthew Kaminski
aka - The Braves Organist