Dr. Richard Brittain was invited to a small gathering of music educators in the months following World War II. The original goal of the meeting was to provide a venue for the music educat...
Don Broman worked long and hard in the music products industry, striving to create quality products and dependable customer service to dealers around the world. When he joined the Lyon &a...
Max Bennett was among the jazz world’s most percussive bass players. With a strong knowledge of drums, he explored and helped design the rhythm of jazz of the 1970's and 80's in the pre s...
Jack DeJohnette is a drummer’s drummer and yet, unlike many influential players, Jack is widely known among jazz fans around the world. With credits that range from Miles Davis to Herbie ...
Roy Haynes knows jazz! His ideas and techniques have made him a legendary drummer who in many ways helped develop Bebop and Free Jazz, a form of post Bop jazz that was popular beginning i...
Thomas Siwe served as president of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) in the early days of the organization. In fact, while serving on the board he took part in the expansion of the PAS ch...
Frank Waddy has been playing drums since he was a small child. During his long and creative musical career, he has played with artists such as James Brown and George Clinton. Frank has es...
Dan Mahoney is the president of Music Corp, a strong music wholesaler founded by industry veteran, Eddy Toporek. Dan came to the industry from the office supply world and brought with him...
Jack LeMaire took guitar lessons from the legendary Eddy Lang. Jack played on radio broadcasts and recordings with a number of top artists during the 1940s and 50s. He all but gave up the...
Richard Bridgeman was the Director of Product Management of Hammond beginning in the mid 1960s. Dick came to the company as the original B-3 organ production was coming to an end. He over...
William Zeswitz was taught the violin by this father, who formed the Zeswitz Music Store outside of Redding, PA. Bill became president and a true leader in the industry. Over the years, h...
Yuris Zeltins is the master luthier known worldwide for his artistic and engineering craftsmanship that is evident in each of his musical instruments. Yuris inspired a new way of thinking...
Gordy Wilcher believes that with the right mixture of passion and knowledge, the independent music retailer has the strength to bring music to young students, build new brands within thei...
Shenae Wilson loves providing a musical instrument in the lives of the young children who come into her store. She feels blessed that she and her husband work so closely with local church...
Johnnie Wilson has been involved with music in his church his entire life. He has performed at weddings and church services for many years. So, it seemed like a natural progression to ope...
Stephen Yu pioneered conga making in Thailand before it was common and popular. He also created a long list of items, beginning with guitars, for a number of other companies. When it was ...
Christopher Willcox was once a classical actor on the British stage. He was a teacher and writer, but feels his favorite job is that of piano salesman. For well over 35 years, he has done...
Himie Voxman was a band director nearly all his life. He studied chemistry in college but fell into music because jobs were hard for chemists to find in the days of the Great Depression. ...
Jay Valle began working in the organ industry in the 1950s and has witnessed some rather amazing changes. He was part of the organ boom of the 1960s and 70s that brought the instrument in...
Lester Wagner began in the woodworking and sanding department of the C.F. Martin & Company before World War II. He moved from the North Street Plant in 1964 to the bigger manufacturin...
Lyndell Thompson was delighted when her two sons, Phil and James, came to her and her husband with a new idea for their Nashville-based leather company. The year was 1978. Until that poi...
Phil Thompson enjoyed working in the leather company his grandfather formed in Nashville. As a teenager Phil made himself a leather guitar strap in the shop, although the business at the ...
Charles Urban knows horns! As the former president of American Plating, he has worked with the top brass instrument makers to perfect the art of plating instruments. Chuck is also very pr...
Marcellus Trach recalls with a smile the many rules a wood worker had to follow in the C.F. Martin & Company when he was first hired after World War II. He also expressed the pride so...
Paul Tanner joined Glenn Miller's newly formed band in 1938 and recorded all of the band's hits including "In the Mood" and "String of Pearls." He often said "Everything the Glenn Miller...
Harold Stone served the music products industry in many ways over a long and celebrated career. After working in a music retail store (Mays Music), Harold joined the CG Conn Company where...
Ursula Seiler is president of the piano company formed by her late husband’s family. The Seiler Piano Company of Kitzinger, Germany has an extensive history of producing well-respected an...
Poncho Sanchez has the heart and soul of his Latin music roots and the love and feel for funk. The result of these passions is the unique style that has helped establish him as a talented...
Art Risavy Sr. has always been deeply fascinated with music. In 1964, he had the visionary idea of converting an old, abandoned bowling alley into a thriving music store in southern Illin...
Art Risavy Jr. studied business in college and initially worked in a bank before returning to the family business, Swing City Music, which his father had founded just a few years before A...
