Authors-Writers
Vinny Testa was the founder of Testa Communications, which he established in 1984 to provide the music products industry with such trade magazines as The Music & Sound Retailer and DJ Times. Vinny enjoyed pioneering new ways of connecting with his readers including being one of the first to...
Dan Vedda grew up playing music. As an arranger and trumpeter he gained a respected reputation in the Westlake area of Ohio. After working for a music retailer in town he was encouraged by a music teacher friend to open his own store –so he did. Skyline Music--the name comes from his rock band the...
Cam Miller established himself as a respected music critic and journalist who was a long-time supporter of countless jazz festivals and concerts for over five decades. Cam began his professional writing career with the Blade Tribune in Northern San Diego in 1954 as a freelance jazz writer before...
George Sturm was asked by the Music Library Association (MLA) to author an essay regarding the music publishing industry in America for the association’s journal. To do so, Mr. Sturm used his vast experience working in the industry of concert and composer relations for many publishers and as a...
Franz Mohr was the chief concert technician for Steinway and Sons for many decades. During his long and colorful career, Franz worked on the pianos of many of the great pianists of his time, including Horowitz, Cliburn, Serkin and Rubinstein. He developed many techniques for tuning and setting up...
Rob Cook’s name is very familiar to those interested in vintage drums and the companies who produced them. As an author and publisher Rob has penned a series including “The Slingerland Book,” “The Rogers Drum Book,” and “The Ludwig Book.” Rob also established Rebeat Vintage Drums and the magazine...
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 MIDI that first shed light on the inner workings of the development of MIDI and the issues that faced the...
Herbert Deutsch was down in Robert Moog’s basement when the two men were redrafting the design of an electronic synthesizer in the early 1960s. Herb suggested that the modular unit with patch cords was hard to play as a musical instrument and wondered if it could be controlled by an organ-type...
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 Vintage Synthesizers. Four years later the same publishers released his The Hammond Organ: Beauty in the B....
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 Magazine and Yukio was very interested to work in the music industry, which in publishing required his training as an...