Hackensack resident Matthew Whitaker, 24, won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for his work with The 8-Bit Big Band and the medley “Super Mario Praise Break.” The blind jazz piano and organ prodigy co-arranged and performed the organ on the video game music track, blending gospel elements to create the sound.
The arrangement features instrumental covers of the “Super Mario Bros” theme, Bob-Omb Battlefield from “Super Mario 64,” Gusty Garden Galaxy from “Super Mario Galaxy,” and Athletic Theme from “Super Mario World.”
On social media, The 8-Bit Big Band wrote: “WE JUST WON OUR 2nd GRAMMY! Thank you to everyone who listened and supported all of our new releases and huge congrats to my co-arrangers on the now Grammy-winning Super Mario Praise Break, the incredible friends and musicians – Bryan Carter and Matthew Whitaker.”
The 8-Bit Big Band is a Grammy Award-winning Jazz/Pops orchestra celebrating video game themes. Its 30-65 members come from around the world but primarily live in New York City. Sought-after musicians and performers, The 8-Bit Big Band is comprised of members who are all gamers at heart, according to its website.
About the 8-Bit Big Band
Directed by Charlie Rosen, the band specializes in jazz arrangements of video game music. The 8-Bit Big Band released its first album in 2018, “Press Start!” The band’s next album followed in 2019, “Choose Your Character.” The third full release, “Backwards Compatible,” in 2021, includes the Grammy award-winning arrangement, “Meta Knight’s Revenge.”
About Matthew Whitaker
Beyond music, Whitaker advocates for persons with disabilities and consults with companies to improve accessibility features.
Matthew Whitaker was called a “keyboard phenom” by CBS Sunday Morning and a “genius” by Grammy-Award winning Jon Batiste.
He starred, produced, and scored the All-Arts Emmy-nominated documentary About Tomorrow and scored the film Starkeisha, currently streaming on Hulu. He also appeared in and contributed music to the Emmy-winning Apple TV commercial “The Greatest.”
Born three months premature, he was diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which caused his blindness. He began playing music by ear at age three and started taking piano lessons at age five, at The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School, a New York school for the blind and visually impaired.
Whitaker has collaborated with Jon Batiste, Christian McBride, Anderson Paak, Regina Carter, and others. His fourth recording, “On Their Shoulders: An Organ Tribute,” was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.