Mike Smith, the jazz saxophonist who toured with Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, and Frank Sinatra, is also closely associated with the music products industry. Mike plays an important role...
Phil Rovner was having some trouble with his intonation as a saxophone player, and decided to design a new approach to attaching the reed to his mouthpiece. As an engineer, he had the kno...
Lynn Reeder did not become actively involved in music until her mid-40’s after receiving a gift certificate for voice lessons from her husband George and son Alex, although an avid listen...
George Reeder and his wife, Lynn, are the owners of Rovner Products, which produces ligatures, mouthpieces and other accessories for musical instruments. The company was established in th...
Kevin Ray Clark grew up with music in his home and played in a family band at church. He was inspired by the musicians playing at Disney World and pursued the trumpet in his school band p...
Thomas Schreiber, grandson of Wenzel Schreiber, today runs his own repair shop and takes care of the woodwind instruments of several music schools in the region of Frankfurt. After an app...
Cornelia Kinzelmann is CEO of ESM which produces mouthpieces for clarinets and saxophones. Cornelia remembers her grandfather, Wenzel Schreiber, from the time when she was a child. Wenzel...
Colin Schofield recalls the day when he was eleven years old and received the Alice Cooper album “School’s Out.” The record changed his life by providing him with a passion for music, esp...
Dominic Massaro has been learning each step of the process of making a mouthpiece in the Elkhart shop his great grandfather’s uncle started in 1919. jj Babbitt has been innovating the pro...
Steve Rorie landed a part time job the very same day he graduated high school at the Vincent Bach plant in Elkhart, Indiana. He later would accompany his grandfather and father at EK Bles...
Greg Grieme was a banker when he met Bill Gray who asked for some support. Bill explained his idea to create a company that would invest in and support music companies. Together they form...
Emmanuel Tonnelier is the General Manager for Vandoren Paris, the world famous reed maker based in France. He works closely with Bernard Van Doren, who is the grandson of the founder. Emm...
Bernard Van Doren is the grandson of the founder of Vandoren Paris, the world famous reed maker. His grandfather, Eugene, formed the company in 1905 based on his technique of making high ...
Jim Green has been a fixture in the Elkhart band instrument industry since the 1960s. He first worked for Armstrong Flute Company before joining jj Babbitt in 1974. After a short absenc...
Christan Griego grew up surrounded by music. In fact, he did not have a television in his home as a child, but did have a piano! While in the school band during the sixth grade, Christan ...
Theodore Johnson was playing in the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra when he began to think of ideas that would improve his clarinet's mouthpiece. Over time, he designed his own mouthpiece a...
Jody Espina had a long history as both a musician and educator before deciding to launch his own line of saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces. Jody honed his playing at a young age before m...
Gary Winder has been active in music sales for over 30 years. Gary worked with G. Leblanc and Coda Music Technologies before he moved on in 1997 to join Yamaha, finally serving as Directo...
Wally Pikal may have been the only music retailers who played on the Johnny Carson Show! Wally opened his store, Wally Pikal Music, in Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1964. Up to that time he ...
Stephen Wick, whose father is a well-regarded classical musician, grew up in a very musical home. What he discovered as a child that remains to this very day is that his father’s passion...
Fred Rast is the founder of Fred Rast Mouthpieces and a music lesson instructor for Music Village. The store is located in San Jose, California and is his musical haven with students and...
Giorgio Clerici is the son-in-law of Cosimo Pomarico, the classically trained clarinetist who in 1960 began making his own unique mouthpieces. Mr. Pomarico developed a crystal mouthpiece...
Riccardo Clerici is the grandson of Cosimo Pomarico, the classically trained clarinetist who in 1960 began making his own unique mouthpieces. Mr. Pomarico developed a crystal mouthpiece,...
Bobby Dukoff was a big band saxophone player during the swing era when he looked for ways of improving his own sound. While working for the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Bobby began playing hi...
Nicolas Hernandez played professional guitar when he met Bobby Dukoff in the early 1990s. The famed saxophonist and mouthpiece maker took Nic under his wing and taught him the trade. Ni...
Jeanne Dukoff married the swing saxophonist and mouthpiece maker Bobby Dukoff. Bobby suffered a stroke just before his scheduled NAMM Oral History interview and in true “Bobby Dukoff Spi...
Craig Richard is a professional saxophonist who has played with the likes of Kenny G and was hired by Bobby Dukoff Mouthpiece Company’s president, Nic Hernandez, as product specialist. W...
Josef Lausman proudly followed in his family’s footsteps. In the small German village of Nauheim (near Frankfurt) he made mouthpieces, primarily for trumpets and trombones for many years ...
Denis Wick was only 25 years old when he became the principal trombonist for the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Over the next 30 years, he played with the LSO and other world class orch...
William Brilhart grew up in a house of music. His father, Arnold Brilhart, was the jazz saxophonist who established a mouthpiece and accessories company and introduced innovative products...
Robert Brilhart is the eldest of the sons of mouthpiece pioneer Arnold Brilhart. Arnold was a well-known saxophonist in the early days of recorded jazz and throughout the Big Band Era. Al...
William Reglein played a key role in the growth and development of the jj Babbitt Company since taking over its presidency from his father, Bud. William’s great uncle was the company’s fo...
