Gerold Hannabach was born in Schönbach, Czechoslovakia into a family with a long tradition in the building of music instruments. In 1948 he did his apprenticeship at the guitar manufactur...
George Hanson’s father was hired by M. Steinert and Sons, the piano dealer in Boston, in 1900. Forty years later George would help his father out after school and on weekends to earn some...
Morris Hayes had some harrowing moments during World War II, but would rather spend time telling you about the glee club he formed while overseas. As a life long choral director, Morris c...
Ed Hendricks always enjoyed selling. After serving heroically in World War II, he worked in several Chicago-area department stores before being hired by Don Broman to work for Lyon & ...
Carol Holtz was hired by the Martin Band Instrument Company in Elkhart during World War II. She has many fond memories of working for the company and the family feeling it had. Speaking...
Glenn Howard was the first salesman hired by the Winter Piano Company following World War II. Raised in Marshalltown, Iowa, Glen was the son of a real estate broker who fell on hard times...
Walter Hoyer took over the guitar production shop that his great grandfather had started and for which his father, Arnold Hoyer, made famous during the late 1940s and 50s. Arnold passed a...
Dale Hyatt was hired by Leo Fender while the iconic guitar builder was still a radio repairman in Fullerton, CA. The year was 1948. Dale recalled all of the major landmarks that helped es...
Jerry Jacobs was born Jerome H. Jacobs in San Jose, California. His father owned a clothing store called The White House, and Jerry, after his service during World War II, followed in his...
Richard Janda specialized in repairing stringed instruments. It was also something he enjoyed very much. During World War II he was trained to repair the band instruments for the U.S. Mil...
JW Jenkins was president of the large music store chain in and around Kansas City that his great grand father first opened in 1878. His father, Paul W. Jenkins, kept the company running d...
Al Jensen began his musical career at the age of 13 playing clarinet in a Vaudeville show. That is, he played until his parents found out where he was playing. His band director convinced...
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...
Brian Justice had been a salesman in many industries in Europe and gained a well-respected name in the music industry for his import/export business between England and Germany, about a d...
Bernie Kalban was one of the great veterans of the music publishing industry. Having worked in the era right after Tin Pan Alley, in the Brill Building and with many of the top firms, Ber...
Fred Kalisky became enamored with the maracas on his very first trip to Mexico City and realized it was an instrument that could be successful in the Canadian market (his home since reloc...
Helga Kasimoff and her husband established the Bluthner piano dealership in Pasadena, California in 1963. Since that time many Blüthner grand pianos have been restored in their workshop s...
Sanjiro Kawamorita was drafted into the Japanese Army during World War II. He served under Shigeru Kawai who hired Kawamorita-San and other soldiers from his unit after the war. He remain...
William Kent, along with his brother Ed, formed the Kent Drum Company in 1947 with a focus to create student-level kits to encourage music making at all economic levels. The company offe...
Bob Knight came into the music industry right after World War II and watched instruments slowly make their way back into the music stores. He was hired by CG Conn and enrolled in their b...
Ted Krumwiede was a veteran of the piano industry working for Kimball and Story & Clark in the important re-birth of the piano business following World War II. Ted had training and a ...
Art Laboe admired radio broadcasters from the first moment he heard voices coming out of a box his aunt had sent to Art's family when he was eight. He went on to have a successful and i...
George Lewis was the founder of George L’s in Madison, Tennessee, one of the industry’s leading innovators of cable and electronic components. George played a large role in the developme...
George Lukas recalled, in great detail, when he was aboard a navy ship at the end of World War II and sitting down to play a blue-painted Steinway upright piano (also known as the Steinwa...
Kurt Lutz was a well-regarded German luthier who, along with many other instrument makers, settled in Bubenreuth, Germany following World War II. Mr. Lutz provided a first-hand account of...
John Majeski Jr. was appropriately given the AMC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 for a long career as editor of the Music Trades Magazine. During John’s era, the Beatles came to Americ...
Norman Marshank joined his father’s independent manufacturer’s representatives full time after serving in World War II. His father, David, formed Marshank Sales in Los Angeles in 1920 and...
John McDermott could sure sell pianos! His knowledge of the products and his strong relationship with music retailers made him an ideal and successful sales rep. John worked for the Gulbr...
Robert McDowell was president of the NAMM Board of Directors from 1969-1971. During that time he assisted William Gard in the expansion of the NAMM organization, including more hands on i...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Ray McKinley provided a swinging and consistent rhythm behi...
Ben McKlveen had a very colorful life as a service man during World War II and a piano technician who cared for the instruments of many top performers and orchestras. He played oboe in th...
H. C. McMurtry sure knew a lot about the Wurlitzer Company! Not only did he work for the company for nearly 20 years, he traveled throughout the country, selling the company’s product l...
