Greg Hatza

Greg Hatza is an American jazz musician, organist, and composer, born in 1948 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He showed musical talent at a very early age, beginning piano lessons around the age of five and later switching to the organ as a teenager. By the age of sixteen, he was already performing professionally, which marked the beginning of his long and successful career in jazz music. 

Hatza gained recognition in the late 1960s when he recorded albums such as The Wizardry of Greg Hatza and Organized Jazz. During this time, he worked with well-known musicians like Eric Gale and Grady Tate. As musical trends changed in the 1970s, he adapted by moving from the traditional Hammond organ to electric keyboards and piano, showing his versatility as a musician. 

A unique aspect of Greg Hatza’s career is his deep involvement with world music, especially Indian classical music. From 1974 to 1984, he studied tabla under Ustad Hamid Hossain and later performed Indian ragas on piano in countries like the United States, India, and Bangladesh. He also explored Chinese classical music by learning the erhu, further expanding his musical range beyond jazz. 

In the 1990s, inspired by organist Joey DeFrancesco, Hatza returned to playing the organ and formed his group, the Greg Hatza Organization, with which he continues to perform and record. Alongside his performance career, he has also worked as a church music director in Baltimore and as an educator, teaching jazz and music theory. 

Apart from music, Greg Hatza is also highly skilled in martial arts, with over forty years of experience. He teaches disciplines such as tai chi, baguazhang, and xingyiquan, demonstrating his dedication to both artistic and physical disciplines. His life reflects a unique combination of jazz, world music, and martial arts expertise.