Joe Lovano worked with the Borgani Musical Instrument Company in Italy on a series of saxophones that fit his style of playing. The Borgani-Lovano instruments use pearl-silver alloy with...
Emilio Lyons would often have his well-known customers such as Stan Getz and Benny Carter meet him at his home whenever they needed work done on their saxophone. Emilio was the manager fo...
Bob Malone is one of the leading experts in band and orchestra instruments in the United States. He works as Director of the Ateliers in Los Angeles for Yamaha Corporation of America. Bob...
Al Maniscalco is a musician at heart. Prior to joining what was then Buffet Crampon USA in 2006, Al Maniscalco maintained a successful 20 year career as a performing musician and educator...
Vincent Marinelli is the founder of Expert Woodwind Service, a music store specializing in hand-selected and expertly fine-tuned professional clarinets and saxophones. A musician himself,...
Branford Marsalis has a deep passion for music that reflects not only in his playing but his music education as well. Branford attributes his skills as a musician through dedicated practi...
Leesa McBeth played flute since she was a child and remembers the day her sister, Sheryl Laukat, was given a saxophone which their parents purchased from Sears, where her father was emplo...
Matthew McBeth applied for a job at Cannonball Musical Instruments in Sandy, Utah, right after he graduated from high school in 2011. At first Matthew was given the tasks of mowing the gr...
Big Jay McNeely was there when the emotions of rhythm and blues gave birth to rock and roll. His honkin' sax style gave raw and bold tones to the feelings behind the R&B and Jump Swin...
Charles McPherson has thoroughly enjoyed his life as a music maker. The jazz saxophonist was strongly influenced by the players of the big band era, such as Johnny Hodges who played in t...
Don Menza is the noted jazz saxophonist who worked with some of the giants of jazz during his long and storied career. Don sat in the Maynard Ferguson’s Orchestra for a few years beginnin...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Eddie Miller was asked to take a break from his road travel...
James Moody and his saxophone graced many NAMM Shows over the decades and was a good friend to many within the industry. He was often seen strolling the show floor and encountering frien...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Gerry Mulligan helped define the Cool Jazz genre with his r...
Floyd Newman is among the most noted studio musicians from the early days of Stax Records in Memphis. As a saxophonist, Floyd became an integral part of the studio band at Stax Records kn...
José Nogueira was eight years old when his parents started a music business in Porto, Portugal. He took accordion lessons as a child as well as guitar and piano. In 1974, a group of frien...
Luis Orta is a jazz saxophonist from Puerto Rico who spent much of his NAMM Oral History interview engaging us with the rich history of Latin Jazz. He spoke of the importance of the percu...
Anthony Ortega was a mainstay on the west coast jazz scene beginning in the 1940s. Growing up in Watts, Anthony (known as Tony) went to school with and was exposed to many of the era's Lo...
Mike Overlin always wanted to work for Yamaha ever since being introduced to the company’s philosophy and commitment to providing excellent products and services. As an employee for over...
Charles Owens has always believed in the importance of music education; after all, his own career began while attending the University of San Diego. As a result, Charles kept returning to...
Scott Page, the CEO of Ignited Network, played saxophone with the likes of Pink Floyd, Toto and Supertramp. His father was a well-known musician in his day having played with Judy Garlan...
Dave Pell had a long and remarkable life in music. As a saxophonist he played with many of the top dance bands in the later years of the Big Band Era, including Les Brown and his band of ...
Rocky Peoples was the saxophonist heard on hit recordings such as “Will We Go Round In Circles” and “Nothing From Nothing” by Billy Preston, as well as his own composition “Driver’s Licen...
John Perdue has always had a deep passion for music, first as a kid playing clarinet in horn bands, then as a music educator, and now as a docent for NAMM’s Museum of Making Music. He tau...
Rafael Perez played a variety of instruments at an early age. He played saxophone in his school’s marching and jazz bands and with several local groups as a teenager. Right out of high sc...
Houston Person, after a 3-year old musical partnership with the great vocalist Etta Jones, is only now receiving the recognition he deserves as one of today’s leading instrumentalists in ...
Melvin Quinones has a fascinating backstory as to how he established Victory Musical Instruments in Puerto Rico. It all began with his love and passion for making music, which started whe...
Jeff Radke followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a saxophonist in the big bands. Jeff played sax in school and studied music and business in college. He attended his first NAMM...
Boots Randolph was the capable saxophonist who proved the instrument could serve a vital role in both rock and roll and country music. His sax can be heard on a range of recordings in whi...
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...
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...
