Leif Juhl has had quite a life in music! As a boy, he picked up a trumpet – the instrument he still played in his early 90s when his oral history interview was completed at his Arizona ho...
Bill Lawrence was known for his pick-up design and his long career as a German based guitarist. In fact, when visiting the Framus Museum in Markneukirchen Germany, you can learn of his in...
Andy Moseley was right next to his brother's side when they took a loan for $500 to start a guitar company they called Mosrite! The legendary guitar brand became a vital part of the boom ...
Roland Janes! There were musicians/engineers/producers and then there was Roland Janes! The man nearly single-handedly invented many of the engineering methods used in modern recordings...
Bob Greene made a name for himself as he expanded the legacy of Jelly Roll Morton. Growing up in New York and playing piano from an early age, Bob became a well-known jazz performer whose...
Red Dog Weber first encountered a pogo cello at the NAMM Show in the early 1950s and was inspired to create a percussive version for his band. In 1958, he began designing the boom schtick...
Imero Fiorentino was considered by many the father of pro-lighting! He began his career just as television was coming into its own in the early 1950s. He worked on live broadcast with new...
William Reynolds made his career designing signs and even a few monuments in and around Bismarck, North Dakota. In 1977 he was hired by Bill and Mary Ann Eckroth to design their now famo...
James Decker had been an active music maker ever since performing with his mother on radio broadcasts while he was a child. Over the years, he continued his pursuit of music study and eve...
Bobby Martin was one of the architects who developed the Philly Sound that provided a unique twist of soul and funk records of the 1960s and 70s. As a producer he worked with many top art...
Art Jenson was known throughout the music industry for establishing Jenson Publishing in 1977. The company became one of the nation’s largest educational music publishers with a focus on ...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Marian McPartland was a jazz pianist who helped elevate the...
Elmer Reeder and his brother purchased a sawmill outside of Lansing, Michigan, right after World War II. It was during that time that Elmer became an expert in wood, an important part of...
Paul Jameson was a pioneer in audio wholesaling as the founder of Custom Products, located in Magnolia, Arkansas. His company was among the first to sell microphones, PA systems and spea...
Maurice Fox loves selling organs to area churches. In fact, even after a retirement from the presidency of Fox’s Music in Charleston, South Carolina, (his son now holds that position), he...
George Duke built his musical career on innovative styles and sounds. His reputation for creative and influential performances cross over jazz, pop and rock music and have since his early...
Leona Yousling was married to one of the most beloved members of the Wurlitzer Company team of the 1960s and 70s, John Yousling. John created many of the sales training classes, which he ...
Ron Sadler’s great grandfather settled in Aurora, Illinois, outside of Chicago, to establish Sadler Piano. Over the next 123 years, the company has faced some unique times and made an imp...
Walther Veerkamp was the son of the founder of Casa Veerkamp, one of the most respected and oldest music retailers in Mexico. His father, who was born in Germany, opened a small music ret...
Peggy Sexton and her husband, Bob, formed Tactus Press to publish books on early percussion. Peggy’s passion for research and the social history surrounding the development of musical ins...
Carl Henderson opened his first piano store in Covington, KY in 1963, after nearly 20 years in the finance business. In the early days he struggled to increase his inventory but ensured t...
Donald Hustad was an editor and arranger for the Hope Music Publishing Company for over fifty years before his retirement. His contributions to printed church music include 120 octavos, ...
Harold Gore was a proud “march nut” as he often proclaimed. A former band director with a passion for the music of John Phillip Sousa and of other composers, Harold was well known through...
Margie Coyle joined several big bands as a singer in the golden age of the swing era. Bandleader Ziggy Coyle hired her for his band and the two fell in love. She worked at her husband’s s...
Johnny Smith! What can you say about meeting not only your personal hero but also a hero to thousands in our own industry! Johnny Smith was in person what he has been on recordings, warm,...
Virginia Waring began her musical career as a concert pianist. In fact, it was while performing a duet piano performance on the Fred Waring Radio Program that she first met her future hus...
Ed Shaughnessey was best known as the drummer in Doc Severinsen’s band on the “Tonight Show” starring Johnny Carson. Ed started his career in New York night clubs and in pit orchestras le...
Ray Manzarek founded the iconic rock band The Doors on the beach in Venice in 1965 with his friend from UCLA film school, Jim Morrison. From that sunny summer day of sharing songs and the...
George Quinlan was proud of his store outside of Chicago, for which the walls are full of photographs of the children he rented or sold an instrument to, and the fact that he survived har...
Gus Acevedo was the owner of the International House of Music in downtown Los Angeles, a store that first opened in 1902. Gus purchased the store from the Schireson Brothers and over the ...
Wolfe Taninbaum was a leader in the development of synthetic reeds, although he is best known for his mouthpiece designs. The Taninbaum mouthpiece company was established in 1952 to provi...
Wendal Jones began playing double reed instruments as a child in grade school. He switched to saxophone for a time to play in a number of dance bands in the Colorado area. After college, ...
