Dan Levenson wrote the book on banjo playing, in fact six books. His love of old time music and his great talents as a musician have made him a well known and respected player, teacher an...
Dr. Ruth Lion’s late husband, Alfred Lion, was the founder of Blue Note Records. Together they played a colossal role in the documentation of jazz throughout most of the 20th century. The...
Martin Marris and his wife run Note Craft, a music engraving company that has played a vital role in the access of musical works of every type. Working for publishing companies, Note Cra...
Jim Merod is the founder of BluePort Sound recording studio and BluePort Jazz, his record label. Since the early 1990s, Jim has recorded a long list of legendary jazz, blues, and latin mu...
Dominic Milano played an important role in the history of the music products industry as editor of Keyboard magazine beginning in the 1970s and into the 1980s. It was Dominic’s article of...
Kevin Mitchell wrote the MMR cover story in 2009 dedicated to the NAMM Oral History program and has been a strong advocate and supporter ever since! His background in music (he played the...
Steve Propes has been a longtime supporter of the NAMM Oral History program and sat down with us to discuss his views on the development of R&B, doo wop and rock and roll. As a long t...
Yukio Sakurai studied photography and art at the university in Tokyo before his uncle asked if Yukio would come to work for him. His uncle was the founder of the Japan Music Trade Magazin...
David Saul is a leading expert on player piano rolls and the AMPICO Company. David was interviewed in his El Cajon, CA home in June 2011 and spoke of his career as an engineer. He worked ...
Gunther Schuller said he always had a passion for music. As a small boy he was photographed playing a conductor, a position he would later hold for many symphonies around the world. Howev...
Lew Shaw grew up admiring musicians he heard on the radio or saw in concert and wanted to do all he could to promote their music and tell their stories. He was a journalist and advertisin...
Kazuhiko Shima is the director of the Hamamatsu Musical Instrument Museum, which opened to the public in 1995. He was hired the year before to help assemble the instruments and create th...
Michael Simmons is a co-founder of the Fretboard Journal and the author of several articles and books about vintage guitars and other fretted instruments. He began his career at Gryphon G...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: George T. Simon was a journalist and historian who document...
Jack Simpson worked for RCA for nearly 40 years beginning at the time when the electronics and recording company was a regular exhibitor at the NAMM Trade Shows. Jack also became a jazz ...
Brad Smith is the Senior Sales and Marketing Manager for Hal Leonard. During his career as a writer and industry historian, he worked for MIX Magazine before joining the Hal Leonard team...
Steve Soest played in several local rock bands and studied hard on the makes of electric guitars and amps, an expertise that came in handy around 1972 when he began repairing musical inst...
Dennis Spragg is a music historian and author who has become an expert on the bandleader Glenn Miller. He is the senior consultant for the Glenn Miller Archives and the American Music Res...
Yale Strom started on the violin when he was eight years old. He took lessons at school, and played in the school orchestra first in his hometown of Detroit, MI, but later on in San Diego...
Denny Tedesco archived his father’s career as a noted studio musician in Los Angeles in the award winning documentary, The Wrecking Crew. Tommy Tedesco, along with other top rated studio ...
John Tumpak is the author and music historian who has focused most of his writings on the golden age of swing during the Big Band Era of the 1930-40s. As a result, John has interviewed a...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Warren Vaché Sr. was a jazz bassist and author whose son, W...
Mark Vail has preserved some of the music products industry’s greatest history as author and researcher of a series of publications. In 1993, BackBeat Books published Mark’s landmark book...
Tom Van Hoose has become an expert on the Gibson 400 Series guitars and in fact even wrote the book on the subject. As a collector, Tom found himself surrounded by used guitars and decide...
Dennis Waring has created his own line of musical products made out of cardboard. The harp and guitars are a fun way to get people playing a musical instrument, which is his main goal. ...
Jim Washburn took on a writing assignment as a journalist for a newspaper about the electric guitar, which led to a series of books and articles that has documented a significant chapter ...
Big George Webley was a beloved voice over the BBC for many years who often included many of his own incredible musical experiences in his late night radio program. As a session bassist,...
Enrico Weller is a historian of the musical traditions of Markneukirken Germany. In fact, Dr. Weller wrote an informative volume outlining the many important contributions and innovations...
Katie Wheeler was an early volunteer of the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in the NAMM headquarters in Carlsbad, California. Her docent experience with the museum gave Katie th...
Lynn Wheelwright has always been fascinated with the guitar, especially the craft of building the instrument. After performing as a teenager, he developed many of his luthier skills from...
Douglas Woodfull-Harris started his career as a studio musician in San Franscisco. During his studies of classical composition and musicology in Los Angeles he met his wife Petra. They bo...
Douglas Woodfull-Harris started his career as a studio musician in San Francisco. During his studies of classical composition and musicology in Los Angeles he met his wife Petra. They bot...
