saxophones

Rod Baltimore has been a music retailer in New York for over 40 years. Much of that time was spent on the famed 48th street music central. Working with brass and woodwinds, Rod has maintained one of the most sought after repair shops in the state and often does work for customers outside the state and country. His career is highlighted by stories of Manny’s Music across the street and Sam Ash as well as the many friends and celebrities he has worked with over the years. Today, Rod is owner of New York Woodwind and Brass Music Company and, yes, you guessed it, it is located on 48th street, New York, New York.

Emilio Castillo plays second tenor sax, as well as providing background and lead vocals for the band he help establish in 1968 called Tower of Power! The year before Emilio formed a band called the Motowns, which became Tower of Power after meeting the Stephen “Doc” Kupka. They began writing original songs together and landed several top hits including “You’re Still a Young Man” (1972), “Down to the Nightclub” (1973), “What is Hip?” (1974) and a dozen albums such as Back on the Streets released in 1979 

Buddy Collette changed music in more than one way. As a noted reed man, he played jazz along some of the greatest players in history including his boyhood friend, Charlie Mingus. Buddy was instrumental in the birth of the Los Angeles jazz scene. Beginning in the late 1940s, Buddy set out to break the color line within the American musicians’ union, which at the time separated the black performers from the whites within their directories. Thanks to Buddy’s efforts the Los Angeles chapter of the union was among the first to classify all members as equal.

Roz Cron was a member of the all female swing band known around the world as The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She toured with the group during World War II when many of her male counterpoints were drafted. Although a war was going on, it was a time of great opportunity for female players who were being booked into clubs and heard on the radio, many for the very first time in their careers. Roz played the alto saxophone and can be heard on several recordings made by the Sweethearts in the 1940s.
 

Larry Fresch has worked by day as a sales manager for piano and organ companies and by night as an accomplished saxophone player and singer in Southern California. He grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, where his father had a music retail store. Young Larry began playing the accordion before switching to the saxophone at the age of ten. He enlisted in the United States Navy and attended the Navy Music School in Washington, DC. Larry performed on many Goodwill Tours including those for wounded soldiers returning home from Vietnam.

James Glanville was part of the team that relocated the Conn instrument manufacturing operations from Elkhart, IN to Nogales, Mexico, back in 1972. The result was a heavy blow to Elkhart, which had once been the Band Instrument Capital of the World. However, it was a needed move in order to keep the company viable in the changing world of manufacturing. James worked hard to produce quality instruments in the Nogales factory, which remained open until the early 1980s.

James “Red” Holloway is an accomplished jazz saxophone player who began his love affair with music while a student of Captain Walter Dyette at DuSable High School in Chicago back in 1942. He recalls his first paying gig at 16 with the band of Gene Wright, who later went on to become a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Red talks of the wonderful jazz clubs he worked in Chicago in the 1940’s and 50’s. In recent years, Red has worked with Clark Terry. He shares some of his comments with him.

Haruhiko Ikebe developed a novel way of approaching music retailing, creating Super Pro Shops that stock vintage and new instruments along with accessories and knowledgeable sales staff for a very specific item. In other words, Mr. Ikebe created a saxophone store, a guitar store, a flute store and several others that market and sell to all musicians that play that given instrument. Currently all of the Super Pro Shops are located in Japan, but if the success continues it may expand to other areas of the world.
 

Carl Janelli plays several instruments but is most fond of the saxophone. He began his career during the big band era and performed with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey before embarking on a wonderful career in the Broadway show orchestras. His stories of the shows and stars he worked with are engaging and his love of music is inspiring. In recent years Carl plays along side his wife and both are noted saxophone teachers in the San Diego area.

Gerhard Keilwerth grew up loving the saxophone and dreaming of building his own line, which of course he did do to international success. The Keilwerth name has been synonymous with innovations in brass instruments for over 40 years. The company introduced the black finish on such noted products as the Shadow Saxophone series. Teaming with Schreiber Music, a new factory was built in the early 2000s with the name Schreiber & Keilwerth. Gerhard is a true expert on the history of saxophones and can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the instrument, a point well proven during his interview when a series of unrelated questions were asked, not to test him, but to answer some decade long questions!