Jerry Mack is Jerry Mitkowski. Jerry Mitkowski is a first call, 30 year world-class Steinway Technician in New York, trained by Steinway & Sons under an official five year company apprenticeship with Masaru Tsumita, then Steinway Hall Master Technician, current Master Technician at the Juilliard School in NY. Jerry has 30 years of steady commercial experience in the New York entertainment and music education fields, caring for Steinway pianos. Jerry was personal piano tuner for Mr. Frank Sinatra, Bob Mintzer, and lots of other great musicians. He has worked at Atlantic records, The Hit factory, Eros Sound, NBC Studios, The Village Gate, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. And every venue and recording studio in between, if you can imagine that. That's Jerry Mitkowski, Piano Technician. This Website is about Jerry Mack.

Jerry Mack is a BMI composer, Hammond B3’er and pianist. He was born and lived his entire life in NYC and immediate vicinity. Born to two pianists, his exposure to repertoire was vast in his early years. Immediate influences were Motown, Gershwin, Beethoven, Afro-Cuban, Jazz Fusion and the music of his home, piano music in general. Jerry uses “Mack” as a shorter, snappier name than Mitkowski, but he likes both names. Actually, he got stuck with Mack because his dad, Richard Mitkowski, changed HIS name to Dick Mack! One of his sidemen used to call him “Big Dick” (he was a big dude) and so…there you have it…Jerry Mack Music.

Further on, Mr. Jerry Mack was influenced by US southern blues, obscure forms of British progressive rock (such as those found on the British Recommended Label) and Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart, followed by the institution which has come to be known as Frank Zappa. By the time Jerry was 17 years old he had transcribed about 150-200 of his favorite tunes which included many songs of the famed British Progressive Rock Wizards of the 70's, Gentle Giant. Mr. Mack considers Kerry Minnear, the (Hammond HEAVY) chief keyboard wizard and composer of the Gentle Giant classics, to be a strong musical omnipresence upon his styles of playing and writing music. He steered clear of transcribing Frank Zappa tunes because the material is so demanding that it required too much time. But listening was more than enough, and certain things do sink in. Another major influence was Kieth Emerson and the Hammond, which are one as far as Jerry is concerned.

The sound of the Hammond came through his father first, playing on the Jack Lallane show in the early 60’s, then through virtually all of Motown blasting in on “77WABC” which played all great pop music of the 60’s & 70’s, much of which was Motown and all organ-rich. Finally, Jimmy Smith, and every other great you can think of that graced the drawbars. The stew is so thick it completely transcends genre and goes straight to the heart of music. Good music, great sounds. Great music, great sounds. Striving for good things, Jerry collected one of the most powerful groups of musicians in modern history (the list of musicians can be found on the “Fortress of Feathers” link here) and released his first disc EVER, to critical acclaim. Read the Keyboard Magazine article (external links & press) …it’s beautiful. Jerry was inducted into the IAJO, International Archives for Jazz Organ this year, and is very grateful for being considered by Jurgen, the president of the IAJO. We all have landmarks and cornerstones and for Jerry’s part that IAJO is a very nice thing. He operates comfortably in virtually any musical setting, and has his feet placed firmly in the exploratory and progressive realm, a position powered by the inimitable sounds of the mighty Hammond Organ & Leslie Rotational Speaker systems, using strictly vacuum tube technology for all stages of amplification. His new trio doesn’t have a name yet, but the CD which said trio is about to release is called “In The Dream” and features Dana Scofidio on Guitar and Rosa Avila on Drums. Jerry lives in New Rochelle, NY. s in New Rochelle, NY.

Right On the Water

Insomnia