what I was kind of working on-reworking the article

Mark Martin is not exactly the most personable fellow. He is short, has glasses is sometimes described as ‘kind of mean’. But hear him play piano once, and your impression of him might change.

“When Mark Martin plays piano his fingers are like liquid over the keys,” said Jeff Bollier, one of Martin’s closest friends. “His piano playing is something that can’t be described, it has to be witnessed.”

For five years now Martin has been playing with the Jazz Orgy, a popular fixture in downtown Oshkosh. Every Sunday night the band draws in a huge following to Peabody’s Ale House on Main Street.

“We were sitting in here having

Mark Martin plays piano for living, i.e., he is continuously broke, doesn’t have a car and lives in a barely furnished one bedroom apartment; but he does what he loves, and to Martin, that’s all that matters.

Five years ago Martin quit his high-paying job as an e-commerce administrator to play piano in the then-unknown jazz trio called the Jazz Orgy. Martin said that decision is one of the most defining moments of his life.

"There was a period where I literally did not see the sun for three months," Martin said. "I thought I was going to go crazy. I realized that I wasn’t doing what I loved and I wasn’t happy with my life."

The Jazz Orgy has become a fixture in downtown Oshkosh, and every Sunday night Martin can be seen jamming with the boys to a packed bar at Peabody’s Ale House on Main Street.

Martin was born on June 11, 1975 in West Bend, Wisc. He was the second youngest of seven children and attributes his love of piano to growing in a musical family.

“Everybody played music but primarily it was centered on piano,” said Martin. “I don’t even remember when I started playing. I literally have been doing this all my life.”

After graduating high school Martin attended UW-Whitewater majoring in piano music performance. After two years, he transferred to UW-Oshkosh where he met the members of his first band Revelations.

“We played jazz at St. Raphael’s church from 1998 to 2000,” Martin said. “This is how I met Andy Mertens, who rocks by the way.”

Andy Mertens is the bassist for the Jazz Orgy and is one of Martin’s closest friends.

“Mark cracks me up,” Mertens said. “When we play jazz together it’s no about the money, we do it for the kids and for love.”