Pianos
David Tarpley remembered crawling around in the ceiling of his current church as a child, hauling the wires for the Allen Organ his father and uncle were installing. As a member of the Tarpley family, you worked in the family business, which for David meant sweeping the music store, moving pianos...
Bill Tarpley remembered the stories his father used to tell him about the early days of the family music retail store in west Texas. Times were hard during the era of the dust bowls and depression, but he credits his father’s skills as both a businessman and salesman in the success of the store....
Mike Wofford has enjoyed a long and acclaimed career in music. As a jazz pianist, Mike has performed with many legends including Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Quincy Jones, Shelly Manne, Zoot Sims and Sassy Sarah Vaughan. He pays remarkable attention to details and understands the role as an...
John W. Ward began working in the music industry as a piano salesman in the late 1950s, before working for the Sherman Clay store chain in 1961. After earning a position as one of the company’s top salesman, John was asked to help sell home organs, which were just coming into popularity. Years...
Tom Lagomarsino has served as marketing director and Executive Vice President of PianoDisc since the company was established in 1988. Tom was there when the very first unit was shipped and helped create the marketing approach that has been of great success for the company and its products. The...
Gary Burgett and his brother Kirk established PianoDisc out of their piano retail store in Sacramento, California in the late 1970s. Gary was a pianist and music teacher with a successful studio of his own, and Kirk was a skilled piano technician and rebuilder. The store, Burgett Pianos, sold a...
George Duke built his musical career on innovative styles and sounds. His reputation for creative and influential performances cross over jazz, pop and rock music and have since his early recordings in the 1960s. The dozen albums he recorded with Frank Zappa included George’s use of synthesizers in...
Jimmie Smith designed and built the Trumann, Arkansas, Baldwin Piano factory in the early 1980s after working in the company’s Greenwood, Mississippi, plant for several years. The Trumann plant was state of the art for the time and included many automated processes fairly new to the piano industry...
Bob Sowell had a long run as a Baldwin employee, beginning in 1969 in the Greenwood, Mississippi, factory and running until 2010 in Trumann, Arkansas, when the Gibson Guitar Company owned the company. Bob specialized in safety and helped create many of the Baldwin plants operational manuals as they...
Glenda Mims was hired in 1978 in the purchasing department of the Greenwood, Mississippi, Baldwin plant. She remained with the company when it was sold and the Greenwood plant was closed in 2001. Then she was transferred to Trumann, Arkansas, where she remained for a few more years. Her delightful...