Ron Baker has been playing the trombone since the 4th grade. He became an educator and put the instrument down for a few years but in retirement realized he missed playing. Ron is a proud...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Bob Brookmeyer played trombone for several name big bands d...
Cassie Brueckner is the president of Pete’s Music store and the daughter of the founder. She grew up in the Anaheim, California store, where she learned to repair musical instruments and...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Bobby Byrne played trombone with such control and tendernes...
Jimmy Cheatham was one of the coolest jazz cats in the industry. Having worked with many of the top jazz players such as Duke Ellington and Ornette Coleman, Jimmy brought the sounds of tr...
Travis Christopherson’s roots in music can be traced back to when his grandfather played country music records for him as a child. As he learned to play the guitar, Travis saw his passion...
Ross Cole was inducted into the Australian Music Association's Honor Roll in 2017 for his life long career in music education. In 1978, Ross and his wife Marilyn opened Cove Music and lat...
Pete Cumming began playing a King trombone as a student, never dreaming he would one day work for the company. Growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, not far from the King factory, Pete ...
Roger Eaton recalled with a smile the day he joined the school band as a child. His first impression and the feeling of joy has never left him, which is why he has dedicated his life to ...
Pat Emmett has had a whirlwind of a musical career! He began playing trombone in junior high school and even took lessons while serving in the US Navy. After earning a degree at North Tex...
Jacques Gaudet was president of the famous French brass instruments production company, Antoine Courtois. Since 1789, the name Courtois has been synonymous with fine brass instruments. In...
Don Getzen sure knew the history of the band instruments made in the mid-west! Don’s father was the plant manager for the Holton Company in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, his oldest uncle was the pl...
David Hood is the co-founder of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. The studio was formed in 1969 when four session musicians left Frame Studios to create their own recording studio....
Graham Hoskins played trombone professionally with the likes of The Bee Gees. When he was off the road he worked in a local music store in Perth, Australia and did so for eight years. In ...
McKinley Jackson’s impressive discography includes his studio work as a trombonist as well as his songwriting and arranging for Motown, Hot Wax and other labels. His band, The Politicians...
Conrad Janis played a music store owner on the hit TV sitcom Mork and Mindy. Conrad, who became a trombonist as a teenager, played Mindy’s father, the owner of a musical instrument store ...
Jimmy Johnson was a co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama along with fellow studio musicians Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David Hood. The four musicians, known as th...
Quincy Jones! How can you write a few sentences to describe Quincy Jones? His long and amazing career in music has produced the soundtrack to many of our own life experiences and his driv...
Don Langlie had a wonderful experience for ten years as a band director, mostly in North Dakota, which he enjoyed very much. When he applied for a job at Popplers Music in Grand Forks, D...
Josef Lausman proudly followed in his family’s footsteps. In the small German village of Nauheim (near Frankfurt) he made mouthpieces, primarily for trumpets and trombones for many years ...
Brad Milliken began working in the music industry with the Vincent Bach Company and stayed with the company when it merged with Selmer and again with Conn. Brad’s positions within the fa...
Dick Nash was a first call trombone player in the Los Angeles studios for several decades. He played for over two thousand movies and TV programs and with a list of artists ranging from ...
Ira Nepus is the type of musician who is always looking to expand his knowledge in order to be as useful a player as possible for each of his gigs. The philosophy has become a trade mark...
Lee O’Connor was a noted trombone player in the golden era of the big bands. His experience on the radio, traveling from town to town for name and territory bands, reflected the struggles...
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 ...
Phil Ranelin stood in line at school to pick an instrument for band. He really wanted the saxophone but when he got to the head of the line all the saxophones were gone and he was given a...
Jack Redmond began playing the trombone at the age of nine, thanks largely to his mother’s support, who herself played the C-Melody Horn in movie theaters for Silent Films. Jack played th...
Ed Rider grew up playing guitar and writing songs, and later played trombone in the school band. After serving in the United States Army and also playing in the Army Band, Ed found a musi...
Paul Riser Sr. was given important musical training when he was in school, which helped set the direction of his career as a trombonist and later as an arranger. He was hired as a trombon...
Ed Rizzuto was surrounded by music his entire life. As a young boy he started playing trombone, which he continued throughout high school and into his military service in the early 1950s....
George Roberts is known in the jazz world for his recording of “Stella By Starlight” with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, which featured George on bass trombone. He is known among music instru...
Charles Rose began playing trombone in the 7th grade and by 1970, when he was still a teenager, formed a band with three trombones. It was the beginning of a long and successful career in...
