Saxophones
Gerry Labelle’s first musical instrument was the alto saxophone; later the tenor and soprano saxophone remained his main instruments, and he later played C Flute, piccolo & Alto flute. Gerry studied music with Frank Mella in Montreal, Canada. He has traveled across Canada and the United States...
Mark Kortschot is a Professor of Engineering at the University of Toronto who was approached by Guy Légère with an interesting idea in 1997. Guy wanted to make a synthetic reed for the clarinet from oriented polymers, but needed some help obtaining and working with these high-tech materials. Mark...
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...
Jim Horn, part of the “Wrecking Crew”, started playing the saxophone as a child and eventually expanded his musical reach to include the flute, oboe, and French horn, even playing the oboe on a Carpenters album. Jim firmly believes that the key to being a successful session player is having the...
Donald Harrison Jr. was born in New Orleans to a deeply musical family steeped in all styles of music: brass bands, jazz, R&B, funk, and world music. His father was a Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief, an offshoot of the cultural tradition that goes all the way back to the time of Congo Square. ...
Neil Leonard began playing saxophone at a young age and it's no wonder, his father was a noted Jazz historian and author. After being greatly influenced by the Pink Floyd album "Dark Side of the Moon", Neil registered for classes at Berklee in Boston (1979). He fully embraced electronic...
Emilio Lyons would often have his well-known customers such as Stan Getz and Benny Carter meet him at his home whenever they needed work done on their saxophone. Emilio was the manager for a music store in Boston while also repairing instruments whenever he could. Over the years he built a...
Karl Denson has played the saxophone alongside Lenny Kravitz, The Rolling Stones, Jack DeJohnette, Switchfoot, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (among others). He was the co-founder of the acid jazz band The Greyboy Allstars, which was formed in 1993. The band originally got together for a CD release...
Trish Gapik has been volunteering at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music for quite some time now, and could not have wished for anything better. Her aunt was a singer during WWII and has her picture displayed in Gallery 3 of the museum. Trish has great memories of her aunt singing, as well...
Pat Rizzo heard Sly Stone was looking for a sax player to join the band. He went backstage at a concert with his horn and Sly told him to go into the bathroom. Sly asked if he was good and Pat said, "Yes, I am." At which Sly said, "You are hired." That fast job interview launched Pat into a long...