Chuck Findley can be heard on the beautiful Flugel Horn solo on the Carpenter’s 1970 hit “(They Long to Be) Close To You.” However, that one recording should not define the range and enor...
Tim Bales is a hard-swinging brass player and long-time member of the band the Ides of March. His playing career began in the first grade when he was just six years old playing the cornet...
Jim Mason played trumpet as a kid, landing his first professional gig in a Polka band when he was 13. He saved his money to attend college and during the summers, Jim began selling pianos...
Mike Kamphuis is perfectly suited for his position as Vice President, Division of Education at Conn-Selmer in Elkhart, Indiana. His role allows him to work closely with educators and indu...
Howard Summers is an instrument designer at Cannonball Musical Instruments, specializing in trumpets. Howard began playing the trumpet in the fourth grade in New Orleans and proudly can s...
Amy Nelson is the store manager for Piano Trends Music Company in Crystal Lake, Illinois. She began working in the store in the 1990s before having a wonderful opportunity to play trumpet...
Dr. George Shaw has had a big impact on the lives and careers of thousands of young musicians. As a music educator and sought after musician, George always looked for opportunities to en...
Darrell Leonard really enjoys his role of writing and arranging music. After touring with a band in the late 1960s, Darrell found himself arranging “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” for ...
Steve Dawe grew up surrounded by music! His mother was a piano teacher and he studied the trumpet in college, but ultimately gravitated to the Hammond B3 as his primary instrument on stag...
Marty Sheller was the award-winning arranger and jazz trumpeter whose musical skills can be heard on hundreds of recordings. He worked with Mongo Santamaria for many years (yes, that is M...
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...
Bob Baca teaches trumpet and is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, where he approaches his teaching from not only the standpoint of a musician but fro...
Sal Cracchiolo learned how to play the trumpet on his mother’s horn. As his love of the instrument grew she saw to it that Sal received classical trumpet lessons with some of the top teac...
Ed Polcer grew up in a world filled with music and the older people around him were supportive and encouraging. As a result, all throughout his career, Ed sought to do the same for younge...
Dan Miller grew up with music all around him and joined the school band the first chance he got. Dan was the first to admit how fortunate he was to have opportunities to go to many clinic...
Eddie Henderson is a medical doctor who found himself in high demand by some of the legends of jazz. His mother was a dancer at the Cotton Club in New York and had the connection to intro...
Ira Sullivan was just three years old when he pulled his father’s trumpet out from behind the couch and began blowing into it. His father began teaching him how to play and by the time li...
Dr. John Hanbery joined the school band in the fourth grade in his hometown of Greenwood, Mississippi. He was encouraged and inspired by his band director, which is a strong reason why he...
Leo Adelman spent much of his life playing the jazz trumpet. In retirement, he spends a great deal of time playing and promoting jazz throughout San Diego County. When the NAMM Oral Histo...
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...
Dwight Vicks, III serves as president and is the third generation to run Vicks, a content delivery company originally known as Vicks Brothers Printing. Started by his grandfather, Dwight ...
Jürgen Voigt comes from a long tradition of musical instrument makers in the region of Markneukirchen starting as early as 1756. His grandfather and great-grandfather were bow makers and ...
Wallace Roney attended the Anaheim NAMM Show in 2018, playing his Kanstul trumpet and taking time to sit down for an Oral History interview. He spoke of his love of the trumpet and some o...
Tony Santorella opened his own music publishing company just north of Boston after learning the trade from the iconic publisher Charles Hansen. Tony was an All State trumpet player who st...
Tom Dorn studied jazz trumpet at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin. The experience cemented his passion for music and soon Tom found himself working for the Wurlitzer retail stores...
Steve Madaio played trumpet on most of Stevie Wonders recordings during the innovative and creative period between 1971 and 1976. Stevie was experimenting with electric keyboards and syn...
Larry McWilliams developed the jazz program at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He joined the faculty in 1970 and soon organized a jazz band that turned into two and three and t...
Jim Anastasi served as the trumpet tester for the King Band Instrument factory in Cleveland, Ohio for nearly 40 years. While testing some 200 instruments a day, Jim worked with some noted...
Poul Marno Sørensen inherited Marno Sørensen Music store from his father located for many years in the heart of Copenhagen. Poul remembers how his father worked as a musician in a circus ...
Chaim Rubinov played the piano in his home as a child and when school age he began playing the trumpet , thanks to the encouragement of his band director. He grew up in Montreal, where t...
Donovan Bankhead has a true passion for the music! His early memories regarding musical instruments involved seeing his older sister’s guitar and flute and taking notice of them before he...
Jack Kanstul and his brother, Mark, joined forces with their father Ziggy in 1981 when Kanstul Musical Instruments was established in Anaheim, California. Like his father, Jack had worke...