Edith De Forest was associated with the Pratt-Read Company for over 70 years! She began working for the piano keys and action manufacturer in the early 1930s. Even after her retirement in...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: George David Weiss wrote a number of successful songs for E...
Josephine Nadolny only had one job, working for Selmer Band Instruments. When she retired in 2000 she had worked there for 58 years! Over that time she developed the first instrument part...
Webb Phillips formed the Allied Piano Company outside of Philadelphia with the goal of filling a need. As a piano technician it was hard to find reliable products that you can trust, so W...
Jacob Malta was an innovator in designing handbells and hand chimes. His approach to product development and engineering led to several important advancements in the tonal quality and man...
Robert Beals was just a young man when he first met Chick Evans. The two worked to perfect and promote Mr. Evan’s idea of a synthetic drumhead in the 1950s. Up until that time, drumheads ...
Harry Begian was one of the most respected band directors in the United States. Serving at the high school and college levels for over 45 years, Dr. Begian conducted his first band while ...
Geoff Brash was an iconic music retailer in Australia who became known around the world for his passion and his brilliant business knowledge. As the managing director of Brash Music, Geof...
Koob Veneman’s father started the first Veneman’s Music Store in Holland, an idea copied by Koob in Maryland in 1960. Koob, like his father, was a luthier who designed his own instruments...
Kees van Willigen opened a music shop in Holland in 1968. As an accordion player he specialized in the instrument and soon gained a world-wide reputation for his product line and customer...
John Keal was one of the very few who attended the Conn band instrument repair school in Elkhart, enrolling in the school just after World War II. The program only lasted a few years, but...
Professor Fritz Sennheiser was the head of an engineering team of German scientists assembled right after World War II to improve the function of the electronic microphone. Using his inno...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Lena Horne was a popular singer and actress who was dedicat...
Dr. Richard Brittain was invited to a small gathering of music educators in the months following World War II. The original goal of the meeting was to provide a venue for the music educat...
Irwin Rabinowitz was personally hired by Irving Berlin to create the lead plates for the famed songwriter's sheet music. Irwin's craft was hand chiseling each note, each slur, and coda in...
Gil Ellman grew up in the big band era, loving the sounds of large orchestras. He was motivated to create as many opportunities for students to make music as possible. He studied band ins...
Keith Wilson helped design and manufacture the famed SM57 and SM58 microphones for Shure back in the early 1960s. As an engineer, Keith later came up with the idea of creating a system fo...
Jackie Mills as a drummer put down the beat for jazz and big band stars such as Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. As a record producer, he played a critica...
Jeanne Bundy-Morrow was only married to Frank Bundy a few months when her father-in-law, the pioneering instrument designer George Bundy, passed away. Because Jeanne had known George for ...
Dean Burtch was a past president of the world famous music publisher and retailer JW Pepper. The company was formed in 1876 and was purchased in 1941 by a group of businessmen headed by H...
John Beltrandi served as a road rep for Kaman Music on the east coast for over 40 years. He traveled mostly in Massachusetts and Connecticut and helped pioneer the Ovation guitar, which w...
Marge Levin was the secret behind the great success of Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Maryland, a fact Mr. Levin was proud to admit. Marge was born in Washington DC and met Chuc...
Art Van Damme became one of the biggest stars of the 1950s with a 15-minute radio and TV program, a noted role in the NBC orchestra, and many miscellaneous recordings, all-centering on hi...
Jake Hanna was the epitome of what a big band drummer is all about. Jake started playing drums at five in a drum corps in the Boston area. He continued to play drums in the bands of Harry...
Herbert Newton opened his piano store in 1939, a few years after becoming a piano tuner in the Norfolk area. Back in the beginning of the store, traveling out to nearby farms was key to h...
Martha Markowitz married her knight-in-shining-armor right after World War II. She soon helped him run the small organ company he started before the war. The Allen Organ Company has been ...
Ed Thigpen, known as Mr. Taste for his remarkable touch and feel as an innovative drummer, had a few (hundred) tricks up his musical sleeves when it came to brush work on the snare drums ...
Lowell Kiesel, as the founder of the southern California guitar company Carvin, joined the ranks with Leo Fender, Paul A. Bigsby, and the Rickenbacker Company, in establishing the new era...
Larry Bearce formed Reston Music in northern Virginia in the 1960s and later opened several locations in the area. One key to the store’s success was the man himself. He was a dedicated m...
Peter Heid enjoyed his career playing with many of the dance bands of the 1930s and 1940s in his hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin. After the war, he used his love of music to open a small ...
Ray Jent sought to bring service to the Lubbock, Texas, community when he opened a music retail store just after serving in World War II. Ray worked closely with the school band directors...
Wilbur Fuller took to woodwork at a young age. When he was 16, from the instructions in a magazine, he made a desk, which still stands in the corner of his small farmhouse in western Mic...
