Al Piatkowski
Living Category –
Inducted 2000
Polka music has been a part of Al Piatkowski’s
life as long as he can remember. Born in Syracuse, NY on January
17, 1959, Al grew up listening to the Sunday polka programs. His
parents, Mike and Gloria, would attend the local polka dances and
bring home the latest recordings of the bands they had just seen,
giving Al more music to listen to during the week. At the age of 7,
he started what would become a 10-year run of accordion lessons from
one of Syracuse’s finest teachers, Ed Levandowski. After practicing
his lesson, Al would put on one of the polka records and play along
with the band. It wasn’t too long before Al went to his first dance
to see Li’l Wally, where he seemed to be more interested in watching
the band than dancing. The variety of bands he has been exposed to
from an early age included Ray Henry, the Connecticut Twins, Marion
Lush, the Dynatones, Stanky and the Coalminers, Casey Siewierski,
Eddie Blazonczyk and the Versatile Versatones, Frankie Yankovic,
Eddie Guca, the Krew Brothers, the New Brass, Happy Louie, and Ray
Budzilek, to name a few.
Around the time he turned 14, Al teamed up with
drummer Leon Cominsky, and the duo began playing at private
parties. They also performed live on Bob Pietucha’s Polish Polka
Jamboree, one of Syracuse’s weekly radio shows. It was also around
that time that his father took him to Buffalo, NY to buy a
concertina. Since the closest concertina teacher lived almost 3
hours away, Al learned the instrument mostly on his own and was soon
playing it in public. Local polka bandleader John Dopkowski would
invite him up on stage to sit in with the band. Al eventually
wanted to expand the duo, so he brought into the band his brother,
Rob, along with 2 friends from high school and changed the name to
Al and the Authentics. His youngest brother, Gary, also performed
with the band on occasions.
After high school, Al went away to attend
Marywood College in Scranton, PA. It was there that he joined the
Pennsylvania Merrymakers and recorded his first album. The
Merrymakers were very popular in Northeastern PA, one time
performing 27 out of 31 days in July. During his 3rd
year of college, Al turned down an offer from Marion Lush to move to
Chicago and join his band. He decided to stay in college for his
last year, but desiring to do a little more traveling, joined Jan
Cyman’s Musicalaires. About the time Al graduated from college with
a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, he received a call
from the Dynatones. Eager to play with the popular band, he turned
down a good paying job offer in Maryland and moved to Buffalo. With
the heavy traveling schedule of the Dynatones, Al knew he could
never hold down a full time job and playing with the band, so he
worked part time as a grocery stock boy. Playing next to Larry
Trojak and Scrubby Seweryniak was an experience that influenced him
for years to come. Al was also fortunate enough to participate in
their live recordings session, Live Wire.
By 1984, Larry had retired from the band and
Scrubby wanted to take some time off, so Al pursued an offer he had
from Fred Bulinski and Brass Works. He moved to Maryland and just
barely got settled in with the band as his job when the call came
from Chicago. Eddie Blazonczyk had offered him the accordion job to
replace Rich Tokarz, who wanted to devote more time to his
restaurant business. It posed a tough decision, but Al packed the
car and moved to Chicago. Playing with Eddie was one of the highest
points in Al’s musical career. From winning a Grammy and numerous
other awards, to performing throughout the country, to traveling in
the comfort of the bus, to sharing the stage with polka legends, he
had finally satisfied his musical goal.
Al performed for the next 6 years with Eddie,
and in 1990, decided that he needed to but back on the traveling.
Chicago offered many playing opportunities, and Al performed fill-in
work with bands such as Marion Lush, the Ampol Aires, and Stas
Bulanda. He also performed with Chet Kowalkowski’s Polish Carolers,
a group of musicians who would spread Christmas joy to family,
friends, and shut-ins during the holiday season.
In 1992, a job transfer brought Al to New
Jersey, where he performed with Jackie Libera’s Classix and Freddie
K., before teaming up with his current band, The Beat. In 1994, he
was asked to play with Polka Family at Carnegie Hall in New York
City, and a year later with Brave Combo at the Lincoln Center, also
in New York. In his 27 year career, Al has performed with more than
60 bands and appeared on over 30 recordings. His performances have
brought him to 23 states and 3 foreign countries. He has been part
of one Grammy Award, 8 Grammy nominations, and numerous awards from
the International Polka Association, and other polka organizations.
In 1990, he also received the Favorite Accordion Player award from
the United Polka Association. He has written and recorded a few
original songs with “I Play Music on the Squeezebox,” “Little
Lovin’” and “Heroes” being the most popular. Besides the accordion
and concertina, Al plays the keyboard trumpet and bass.
Al lives in Hillsborough, NJ with his wife
Donna and their two children, Olivia (2 ½ years) and Zachary (6
months). He is employed as a Systems Consultant by Symbol
Technologies. |
