Down Beat Magazine

Kevin Maher has countless stories about the music industry, about jazz and about his father and grandfather who ran Down Beat Magazine and the early days at Music Inc.  Even more, Kevin can outline the trends and the great innovations that have changed our industry over the years because his...
Frank Alkyer has asked a lot of questions. As a writer and editor of Music Inc. he has interviewed music retailers and suppliers alike. As a writer and editor for Down Beat Magazine, Frank has interviewed countless jazz and big band performers. With this background you can imagine how meaningful it...
Don Minaglia was working as school music administer in Chicago in the early 1970s when budget cuts threatened the music programs. Heading the team, Don enlisted the help of several music organizations including NAMM and Down Beat Magazine to show the school board the importance of a music education...
Gerald “Wig” Wiggins was a world renowned composer, arranger and jazz keyboardist. As an early pioneer in playing jazz on the Hammond B-3 organ, Wig had a strong interest in new and inventive sounds. His creatively can be heard in hundreds of recordings and motion pictures beginning in the 1930s....
 Robert Perine was raised in Los Angeles in a very artsy family.  At the age of six, his father drew his portrait and asked young Bob to do the same. “It was like magic and from that time on I knew I wanted to be an artist.”  After enlisting in the US Navy during World War II, Bob studied at the...
Chubby Jackson was the 1947 Down Beat magazine’s reader poll winner for the best bassist of the year. When the Kay Music Company of Chicago told Chubby that they would be presenting him with a new bass to mark the occasion, Chubby had one request – add a fifth string. Jackson played that bass...