Sammy Nestico has revolutionized the band and orchestra repertoire by composing and arranging top jazz charts for all levels of bands. As a result, this arranger of Count Basie’s band in ...
Larry Noto’s father, Joe, opened Music Land in 1971. Back then Joe wanted to create a store that would provide instruments and repairs to both the gigging musician and students. Larry gre...
Kenny O’Brien is the president of Music & Arts, a retail store chain that his father, Ken O’Brian, established. Kenny oversees the stores, which focuses on school music and print and ...
Hiroo Okabe is the Director and Managing Executive Officer of Yamaha’s Musical Instrument Business Group. During his NAMM Oral History interview he provided the history of how Mr. Torakus...
Charlie Ollmann is the co-founder (with his wife) of the retail shop Music Connection in Minnesota. They both taught music and had an opportunity to open their own store, with lesson roo...
Mike Olsen has worked in the very shop his grandfather established right after World War II to make parts for band instrument makers in and around his hometown of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. At ...
Cristiano Onerati remembers working closely with his father to learn the finer points of repairing musical instruments. He enjoyed the experience and wanted to make sure repairs remained...
Alessandro Onerati and his brother, Christiano, run the music store with their family name in Florence, Italy. The Onerati workshop was established in Florence in 1980, specializing in wi...
Walt Ostermeyer had a solution to the complaint of millions of school age music students who came into his music retail store, the wood reed tastes yucky. Walt designed a series of reeds ...
Tom Ostrander was the founder of Colonial Music in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Now a string of stores, the retail company began with the simple idea of providing top quality instruments to the area...
Tom Ott began training in the tool and die business right after high school at which point he was hired by the CG Conn Company in Elkhart, Indiana to work in the factory. Tom has been th...
Chip Owen was the product specialist at Fox Bassoons who helped engineer a series of instruments for Fox over the years including the Fox Model 900 Contrabassoon, which was first introduc...
Rob Palmer served as president of UMI (United Musical Instruments) in the final years of the company before the brands it manufactured were sold to other companies. UMI played an importan...
Frank Pampenella is the owner and president of PM Music Center in Aurora, IL and has worked in the music industry for over 30 years. He founded PM Music Center in 1982, when he transition...
Gary Panton grew up in Niagara, New York, and played the drums and vibes in high school. It was there that he started his first band, a jazz trio. In 1970 he was hired by Dick Crino in Du...
Karl Pasch purchased the music store that his father established in Anchorage, Alaska, with the goal of continuing the tradition of providing music products for his community while also f...
Kurt Pasch is the founder of the Music Man retail store in Anchorage, Alaska. Growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Kurt was surrounded by music and in fact played in more Polka Bands than...
Leon Pascucci grew up in the music industry as his father was the president of Leblanc in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Leon remembers well the times he spent with Mr. Leblanc in France and the man...
Vito Pascucci was assigned to band instrument repair during World War II for Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force Band. Although Miller was much older, the world-famous bandleader and Vito becam...
Francesco Passera's journey in music began with a lifelong passion. While his sister pursued guitar and piano performance, Francesco's path led him to business school and a career outside...
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 ret...
Jim Paulsen's father opened a small music store in Kenosha to focus on his instrument of choice, the accordion. When young Jim encouraged his father to expand into guitars, they started ...
Curtis Pearson served proudly during World War II and, upon returning to the United States, was told of a sales job at the Poole Music Company. After several successful years and getting ...
Scott Peck is the President of Pecknel Music Company, the music store in Greenville, South Carolina that was formed by his grandfather. Scott grew up in the business, cleaning floors and...
Nick Peck’s entire face lights up whenever he talks about a great school music program! The son of a band director, the passion seems to be in his blood. After taking over the store his f...
John Pedersen, the founder of Pedersen's Band & Orchestra in Burbank, California, began his career with a small instrument repair shop. The store, which began in the early 1970s, con...
Nedra Pedersen grew up playing French horn and studying all areas of music. She landed a job in the publishing side of Disney and worked with Hal Leonard on several projects including Th...
Tom Pedrini and his sister Vicki were third generation music retail owners. Their store, Pedrini’s Music, was located in Southern California and had a long and successful influence on the...
Vicki Pedrini grew up in the family’s music retail store in Southern California. She worked in the store on weekends and summer vacations as well as the holiday season, which brought fun ...
Naomi Peer recalls the days Danny Henkin brought the CG Conn Company back to Elkhart, Indiana in the 1980s, which is when she first began working for the company. She stayed on during th...
Sandy Peffley was hired by her uncle who owned the Armstrong Flute Company, when Sandy was just out of high school. She stayed with the company when it was sold to Selmer and again when ...
