Diggin Up My Roots

• GREG HATZA – NORD C2D / vocals
• ROBERT SHAHID – drums
• BRIAN KOOKEN – guitar
• PETER FRAIZE  – sax

[music_seller]

The music on this CD is a collection of R&B and Blues songs that I grew up with in Reading, Pa. Ever since I started piano lessons I was drawn to African American music. Improvising boogie woogies on the piano at 5 years old is probably why my mother decided get me to a piano teacher quick. My father owned a small restaurant that had a juke box which had all the current R&B, blues, and rock & roll songs. When the box was serviced for new records, they gave the old 45’s to my father, who in turn gave them to me. I had a large collection of 45’s that I listened to all the time. That is how I first heard Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk”. That’s when I really started to fall in love with the organ. Then along came Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Smith and I was off to the races. When I was around 14, I bought my first Hammond organ, the compact M series. Around the same time I joined an African American R & B band that played current and older R&B and Blues songs. I must acknowledge that the African American community in Reading and later in Baltimore was very embracing of me and my music and was very instrumental in helping to form my career as a jazz organist. This is something I will never forget for the rest of my life and musical career. I hope you enjoy these songs ‘cause I had a great time recording them!