Pianos
Vince Grantano was a fixture among traveling piano representatives. He traveled the entire United States for several companies over the years to bring new products to retailers. His most notable job was with the Winter Piano Company where he worked for several decades. Vince joined the National...
Eileen Kilday and her husband worked hard to re-build an old piano bench making company, which they renamed GRK. This project for the Kilday’s began in 1988 with the purchase of the old company and since that time both have been regular exhibitors at the NAMM Show as well as at other industry...
Glenn Howard was the first salesman hired by the Winter Piano Company following World War II. Raised in Marshalltown, Iowa, Glen was the son of a real estate broker who fell on hard times during the Great Depression. Glen emerged from those difficult years with a strong understanding of the value...
Al Rich, the former president of Pearl River Pianos in the United States seems to have pianos in his blood. He grew up in DeKalb, IL, the home of the mighty Wurlitzer Corporation. Al’s father owned a music retail store where Al recalls meeting the many traveling salesmen with a celebrity like...
Jim Coleman recalls watching his father, a true traveling music man, tune a piano when Jim was just a boy. He not only went on to make a career of tuning, but set standards for testing tuners for the Piano Technician’s Guild. Over his long career, Jim owned and operated his own music store in...
Kern Kennedy tickled the ivories on a number of early rock and roll and rockabilly recordings back in the 1950s. It was the heyday for Sun Studios in Memphis right after the success of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Founder, Sam Phillips often called on Kern when a piano player was...
Rose Wernes Drake traveled with her husband, Ivor, when he became the second salesperson hired for the Winter Piano Company following World War II. He often said the company got two for the price of one as she soon became as good an asset to the company as he was. It was Ivor’s idea to train her on...
Dave Brubeck played Baldwin Pianos for most of his long career. As a classically trained performer, he added poly-rhythmic concepts to jazz. Among his most celebrated recordings is the world famous “Take Five.” While he never caught the teaching bug, he was greatly influential on countless...
Jane Smisor Bastien together with her husband. James Bastien., wrote the best-selling method-book, Bastien Piano Methods, enjoyed by millions of students and teachers worldwide. The series of books, all published by the Neil A. Kjos Music Company, are now translated into more than 16 languages....
Pete Sides has a great passion for the music industry; in fact it is in his blood. On his mother’s side a piano tuner can be traced back to the Mayflower and on his father’s side, his grandfather was a piano tuner who formed a small retail store. His father opened Robert M. Sides Piano Service in...