In Memoriam

Horace Gamlin was born to a piano tuner who taught his son the trade with hopes he would follow in his footsteps. While Horance enjoyed piano tuning, he felt he would be just as good as a salesman so he did both in other retail stores in and around Wales in the 1950s. In September 1960 he and his bride decided to open a music store in Cardiff, Wales, and they called it Gamlin Music Center. Horace is proud to recall the days a young and unknown Tom Jones came into the store after school to play the guitars and gear he only dreamed of one day owning.

Carlo Greco was known throughout the world as one of the premier guitar luthiers. Yet, if you ever got to meet him, he was a very humble man who brushed off compliments with a smile. After a long association as chief designer for Guild Guitars, Carlo joined his dear friend, Alex Carozza, in New York’s top repair shop, Alex Music, on 48th Street. Carlo created some of the world’s most-loved string instruments and had an equal reputation as a repairman of world-class guitars.  

Richard O’Donnell was vice president of Yamaha Corporation of America at a very historic time in the company’s growth and development, the 1970s. Richard worked on several projects including managing the operations for the Everett Piano Plant in Michigan, which Yamaha purchased to expand its piano manufacturing. Richard later oversaw the Georgia manufacturing plants for Yamaha and witnessed first-hand the growth of the company within the American market.

Al Simpkins spent his career selling musical products. One of his former dealers was convinced Al could sell a block of ice to residents of the North Pole. His knowledge of the products and his attention to customer service were key elements in his success. He became an important part of his dealers’ success over the years by providing quality products and standing by the dealer if problems arose. Al also served as Vice President at Standel Amplifiers alongside the company’s founder Bob Crooks.  

Joe Guercio is best known for the 8 years he served as Elvis Presley’s musical director, beginning in Las Vegas in 1969. He formed the orchestra that backed Elvis and his band on every tour until the King of Rock’s passing in 1977. Joe arranged Elvis’ stage introduction and wrote the 6-note fanfare that began each of his live concerts during that time. Joe also conducted several other singers in his career and arranged hit songs for Steve & Edie, Barbara Streisand and Gladys Knight. 

Bob Gand opened a music shop in Deerfield, IL in the early 1960s, which was an influence not only to the community but to his son Gary.  Gary went on to open his own successful retail business.  Bob fell in love with folk music in the 1960s and formed the Gand Family Singers, which included his children Gary and (celebrity chef) Gale. Bob opened his store, which always focused on teaching, as well as support for the local schools and community music events.  Bob was a classic example of a passionate and driven music retailer who put his customers first!

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Jim Galloway was born in Scotland and later relocated to Canada where he played a vital role in expanding the popularity of jazz in Toronto and other large cities. His Wee Big Band, formed in 1977, showcased Jim's abilities on both the saxophone and clarinet. From 1987-2007, Jim was the Artistic Director for the Toronto Jazz Festival, which often included his lifelong friends each year such as Eddie Miller, Jack Lesberg, and Milt Hinton.

Buddy DeFranco’s clarinet style helped to legitimize the instrument in the post-swing era as a modern jazz instrument and his techniques have been a major influence on performers ever since the late 1940s. Buddy’s powerful tone and unique approach to phrasing gave rise to the clarinet’s strong presence in the modern and post-modern jazz eras. His popularity led to a long time endorsement relationship with G. Leblanc and a close relationship with some of the industry’s leaders such as Danny Henkin and Vito Pascucci. In later years several models were made for Buddy, each of which h

Andy Shearer along with this dear wife Rowena, opened Shearers Music store in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1963.  The couple began with a modest inventory but grew to include top brands of musical instruments, a well-respected sheet music department and in the early days, stereo systems and records.  Over the years the company grew to a second location and soon their children, who grew up in the store, began working behind the counter.  Son David attended the Breakfast Session at the NAMM Show in 2013 to receive the 50th Millstone Award on behalf of his parents and the entire family.

Chip Young was one of the best known recording session guitarists in Nashville. His thumb picking style can be heard on countless recordings and hundreds of hit records made in Nashville between the early 1960s into the 2000s. Chip's thumbing can be heard on Vern Gosdin's 1984 hit "I Can Tell by the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)," among others. One of his longest associations was with Elvis Presley. He began recording with Elvis in 1965, continuing until Elvis's passing in 1977. In fact, towards the end of his life, Elvis had Chip produce two albums including Moody

John Fry was the founder of Ardent Records and a noted recording engineer with a special talent for sound mixing and studio sound control. The results of his efforts are enough to fill several walls with gold and platinum records from the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Led Zeppelin. John was also a devoted Christian who saw the need to produce quality Christian rock music in an era before it was a large musical category or commercial success. His pioneer recordings using his engineering talents are well noted within the industry. His list of admirers seems to be an ever growing l

Phil Passin began working for Carl Fischer in 1947 in the shipping department, where he took a deep interest in the industry.  After serving in the US Army during the Korean War, Phil returned to Carl Fischer where he began working his way up in the company.  When the company sold its interest in band instruments to focus on print, Phil opened Micro Musical Products to represent the band and orchestra instruments he had come to know and love.  Phil worked with Sam Ash and Sam’s sons over the years, which is a very interesting when you consider Ben Ash conducted this interview for

Bob Sperzel’s grandfather and father were both mechanical engineers working in their own shops creating machine parts for several industries. As Bob learned from them he discovered on his own a real need for machined parts to be improved for turning keys for guitars. Bob witnessed first hand how musicians were clear about the issues they had with some tuning keys. Bob took those ideas and he machined each part to address the basic problems he saw in the design of other keys. He then set off to improve these parts for guitar players. With over 50 years in business, Sperzel USA has

John Hampton was a Grammy winning engineer at the Ardent Studios in Memphis, where he worked side by side with the studio's founder, John Fry.  The studio recorded a long list of artists from Stax in the early days when Mr. Fry opened the business.  Over the years the studio was home to many popular albums, several of which were engineered by Mr. Hampton.  These include "Afterburn" by ZZ Top, "Green" by R.E.M, "Family Style" by the Vaughan Brothers as well as Bob Dylan's "Until The Night Is Gone" and the Replacements’ 1987 classic "Pleased to Meet Me." The two John's worked togeth

William Kent, along with his brother Ed, formed the Kent Drum Company in 1947 with a focus to create student-level kits to encourage music making at all economic levels.  The company offered professional-level drums as well as other products such as the tambourine. William was always proud that a common story told in the industry by company leaders and professional drummers alike, was of a Christmas morning surprise in 1964 or 1965 for the young Ringo want-to-be, a new Kent Drum set under the tree!   The company closed in 1977 to allow Ed and William to retire.  Drum Paradise, the

Vern Schafer joined the family business of moving pianos as a teenager, but had the dream of running his own piano store. While still running the Schafer Piano Movers Company, Vern set out to learn all he could about the ins and outs of the piano retail business. Soon after opening Colton Pianos, in the southern California town of Colton, Vern was able to expand, opening other locations. In the process, Vern wanted to train his employees to be able to run and manage the stores so that he could continue to run the moving company as well as other ideas he had.

Hugh Goldsmith was hired by the Mason-Risch Piano Company of Canada when he was still a teenager in 1937. Times were difficult during the depression era and into the war years when Hugh enlisted into the Canadian Air Force. After the war he returned to the industry and worked as a traveling sales rep for nearly 30 years as well as a retailer and piano manufacture.

Frank Green opened his first music retail store in Southern California in 1959 and called it Music For Everyone. He began working in the music industry some 12 years earlier as student enroller in an accordion school. He soon became a teacher for the school and a manager before deciding to open his own store. Frank spent time as a rep for Pacific Music and Music Man for which he wrote a book.

Jerry Grote grew up in Minnesota and began playing guitar after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.  As a high school student, Jerry began visiting local music stores and discovered music retail.  One of the stores he visited was called The Guitar Center, not related to the chain, but ironically, some years later Jerry did work for that Guitar Center when the chain opened a store in the Twin Cities.  He may be the only person we have interviewed who has worked for both The Guitar Center and Guitar Center.  As his passion for music developed, Jerry was aske

Jerry Freed began working in the music industry along with Tommy Moore. Together they promoted percussive instruments for schools and built Kasuga International in the 1960s. Jerry later created Freed International before deciding to concentrate on instrument case products. When he launched Gator Cases some questioned the market size, however, Jerry rose to the occasion in true Freed fashion by growing the market with a series of specialized cases both hard and soft side, rarely available in the industry at the time.

 Eleanor Anderson helped establish Woodbury Music Company with her late husband, Leroy Anderson.  The company is managed by their three children (Kurt, Rolf and Jane) with a third generation very active in music as well.  As composer and arranger, Leroy Anderson published popular classical music that helped create a whole new musical genre during the late 1940s and 1950s.  The Boston Pops featured most of Leroy’s works with several becoming hit recordings, including “Sleigh Ride” and “Blue Tango.”  Since Leroy’s passing in the early 1970s, Eleanor worked to ensure her husband’s mu

Al Rinaldi was the first person ever to receive the Steinway Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to him in 2012.  Al never worked for the piano manufacturer nor did he work for any of it's sister companies.  Al was a Steinway dealer in Philadelphia, who in fact was turned down from being a dealer when he first requested it.  Al was an unknown retailer to the Steinway Company in those days even though he owned piano & organ leased departments at Gimbels, Strawbridge and Clothier, and John Wannamaker’s.  When he purchased Jacobs Music in downtown Philly, he carried sever

Charles Watkins invented the Watkins Copicat, an echo unit introduced in 1958. Mr. Watkins was inspired by the Morino Marini Quartet who made famous the Comi Prima, which contained a special use of repeated phrasings. The Copicat revolutionized the world of music beginning in the United Kingdom, Watkins’ home country, and soon covered the world. The echo unit did not contain any printed circuit boards, just a few valves, a tape loop and as he said “a bit of imagination.” The Copicat was sold by the hundreds of thousands and is still regarded as a standard echo unit for most record

Robina Miller opened Swing City Music with her husband, in London, England, in the days following World War II. During the time of the record shortage in the UK, Swing City offered American music, beginning with service records known as V-Discs (Victory Discs). In order to make a few extra dollars the couple would take in instrument repairs. In order not to give away that there were only two employees and that all repair work would be farmed out for a fee, they would often take the instrument upstairs, talk to themselves before returning with an estimate.

Patrick Stansfield was the legendary stage manager who, along with Bill Graham of FM Productions, launched the modern music concert format by creating and popularizing the arena rock business. Over the years Patrick was involved with countless performers ranging from Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand to the 1980 movie The Jazz Singer. Patrick was a strong supporter of the NAMM Oral History program – working to help capture the stories of those involved with pro-audio, pro-lighting and stage production and a co-founder of the Parnelli Awards. The industry honored him with a surpris

Stanley Jay always admired rare and special fretted musical instruments, so it came as no surprise when he and his friend, Haf Kuffner, opened a guitar shop on Staten Island in New York. They named the store the Mandolin Brothers. Over the years the store has become a hub for vintage instruments and Stanley became a world-renowned expert of all things related to fretted instruments. More than that, Stanley brought his own passion for the instruments to each person who walked in his doors.  It was personally rewarding for him to help a player find an instrument they enjoyed.  He  w

Vernon Drane played several musical instruments growing up in Tennessee including the trumpet and saxophone. He later studied instrument repair and spent 68 years (!) working with the Amro Music Company in Memphis. Vernon was also a baritone singer who performed in two church choirs for over 60 years and can be heard on several pop recordings that took part in the early days of rock and roll. Being a friend of Sun Records founder, Sam Phillips, Vernon found himself making extra money writing lead sheets for various bands that came to record, one of which was the Bill Justice band.

Larry Moody began his career in the music industry as a retailer working for Ziggy Coyle in Ohio. The store was owned by Ziggy, a past president of the NAMM Board of Directors, and Russell Hill. The retail experience was helpful to Larry, who was hired by Yamaha and later by the Gemeinhart Flute Company in Elkhart, Indiana. During his career in Elkhart he took part in the development of several new products and models, many of which are still produced by the company today. Larry was always willing to help in our efforts to document the history of the industry and was good for a la

Paul Craft always felt a pull towards music but was not just sure how it would take hold in his life. For a time he ran a music store in Memphis called Paul Craft’s Music and Drum City all the while writing poems and setting them to music. When he felt he could write songs, he headed up the road to Nashville where he cut demos and awaited the chance to have his songs published. Over the years, he became a well-respected and well-recorded songwriter having his music performed by many top artists. Among his hits was “Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Post of Life.” 

George Roberts is known in the jazz world for his recording of “Stella By Starlight” with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, which featured George on bass trombone. He is known among music instrument makers as Mr. Bass Trombone, who helped make a market for the instrument beginning in the late 1940s. George is known to movie trivia buffs as the trombonist who scared audiences with the sounds before JAWS attacked (ba-dump ba-dump). His is also known to his NAMM family for creating Bones West, a big band style trombone band that has played at every trade show since the mid 1970s. 

Yoshi Kobayashi began working for Yamaha Corporation of America in 1958.  In the early days of his career he was tasked with supervising the import and export of the motorcycle division.  As the musical instrument side of the company grew and expanded into the United States, Yoshi-san was placed in charge and soon created the foundation for the Yamaha distribution plan.  He and his team worked hard to manage the customs rules as well as ensure the products arrived safe and on time.  He retired from the company in 1995 having enjoyed his career in the music industry!  

Gerald Wilson was among the great arrangers of jazz, beginning back in the swing era when he worked for the famed Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. He established a distinctive style rich in melodic phrases and tasty rhythms, which stood out among the most stylish jazz arrangements. The impressive list of those artists he worked with is equaled only to that of the list of those who loved and respected him as a gentleman and as a musician.