Jazz
Ralph Angelillo grew up inspired by Joe Morello. His dad was a bassist for big dance bands in the 1940s and '50s and his four brothers all played music. In 1961, at the age of 17, Ralph purchased his first Ludwig drum set, with money earned working as a busboy in local hotels. While working in the...
Luis Miranda often visited the Palladium Theater as a teenager to dance. During one visit, Luis was asked by a member of the band if he played the congas since their conga player was out sick. This was the beginning of a 70 plus year career as a Latin percussionist! He worked with some of the...
Wallace Roney attended the Anaheim NAMM Show in 2018, playing his Kanstul trumpet and taking time to sit down for an Oral History interview. He spoke of his love of the trumpet and some of the players he learned from over the years including Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, who became a personal...
Howard Paul is the president of Benedetto Guitars and has had a passion for the instrument since he was a kid. In fact, Howard was playing professionally when he was thirteen. Over the years, he befriended several key jazz guitarists who were mentors to him, including Chuck Wayne and Jimmy Bruno....
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 beginning in 1960 and performed with Stan Kenton and Buddy Rich. Over the years Don has been a regular at the NAMM Show...
Abraham Laboriel has often been called the most recorded bass player of all time. Bass Player Magazine placed him on their top 50 bass players list and listed Abraham as having performed on over 4,000 records and soundtracks. Among the projects he spoke about during his NAMM interview were those...
Jim Merod is the founder of BluePort Sound recording studio and BluePort Jazz, his record label. Since the early 1990s, Jim has recorded a long list of legendary jazz, blues, and latin musicians including Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Kenny Barron, Clark Terry, and Wayne Shorter,...
Tommy Emmanuel played bass to his brother's lead guitar as a kid and knew playing music was his calling. Tommy has become a world renown player and songwriter who realized early on the importance of finding the perfect guitar. For him, the best guitar is the one that you can't put down, the one...
Johnny Vidacovich was born in New Orleans and raised by his mother and grandparents. He started playing drums when he was ten years old and would go to night clubs around New Orleans and stand outside the open windows of the clubs to listen and learn from some of the city's best drummers and...
James Singleton was born in Chicago and took to playing bass at an early age. After performing in the Chicago area and briefly attending the University of North Texas, James was called to New Orleans to perform with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. As he cut his teeth further with Brown, James became a...