Oral History - all
Ella Jenkins earned the title The First Lady of Children's Folk Songs and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to bringing music to children. She began collecting and writing folk songs as a summer camp counselor, which years later tied nicely with her college studies of child... more
Birth Date: January 5, 1943
Deceased Date: December 12, 2016
Larry Seaver spent decades designing, engineering and producing parts, instruments and tools for band and orchestras. The key to his success was simple, Larry was an engineer’s engineer! He was always thinking about ways to better a process or improve an instrument. Over his career in the music... more
David Gold created a special formula that became the key factor in the echo chamber of his Hollywood recording studio called Gold Star. The studio was filled with furniture and electronic machines that David built himself. All of the control boards and all modifications of the gear within the... more
Birth Date: February 11, 1921
Deceased Date: January 26, 2020
Marty Baxter entertained the troops during World War II as a member of a singing quartet. While with bands, such as Frankie Master’s Orchestra, she not only sang but arranged the four part harmonies. When she met and fell in love with the band’s piano player, Eddie Baxter, her life in music would... more
EZ Wajcman was fascinated by the need for specialized sounding guitar pickups. Together with Bill Lawrence, EZ opened their pickup company in 1965 and produced a well-respected product that was the talk of the NAMM Show in the mid-1960s. Over the years, EZ developed processes to ensure the... more
Jackie Bertone knows firsthand about the power of music. As a percussionist for countless recording dates and live performances, Jackie has added the sounds, the feel and the color that puts the song in motion and in the pocket for performers ranging from Brian Wilson to Third World. His... more
Birth Date: February 15, 1927
Deceased Date: March 2, 2017
Wally Pikal may have been the only music retailers who played on the Johnny Carson Show! Wally opened his store, Wally Pikal Music, in Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1964. Up to that time he had been a sought-after bandleader and trumpeter in and around the Midwest. One of his tricks, that got the... more
Lester Abrams is the songwriter who teamed up with Michael McDonald to pen the Doobie Brothers hit "Minute by Minute." As a teenager and playing drums, Lester's first band was the El Doradoe. He later switched to keyboard and after playing with a few other bands landed in the innovative band... more
John Roderick studied percussion at the Hart School of Music, which proved to be a great benefit for his long and successful career in the music products industry. John has worked for several top companies so far in his career including learning first hand from Charlie Kaman at Kaman Music, Jim... more
Dave Pensado cares very much about the history of his craft and sharing it! Dave is the award winning recording engineer who worked on products with Michael Jackson, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige and many others. With a deep passion and knowledge of the gear and process of engineering,... more
Steve Morse has been a regular attendee at the NAMM Shows for several decades thanks to the Ernie Ball Company. In fact, it was thanks to Sterling Ball that Steve was interviewed during the show in 2015. Steve’s long career in music, which began professionally in 1969, has included gigs with the... more
Greg Mackie is the engineer who created a number of audio products that came at the perfect time to start a whole new era in sound production. Mackie Designs helped define the pro audio world beginning in the 1970s with a series of mixers that proved home recordings had a place in the industry. ... more
Sergey Kupriyanov is the president of a retail and wholesale company in Russia. In fact, Sergey was the first current music retailer from Russia to be included in the NAMM Oral History collection when he was interviewed in 2015. His interview included his own background as well as a nice overview... more
Suzanne Ciani played a key role in the early awareness and usage of electronic musical instruments into pop music, film and even the stage. She was experimenting with electronic musical instruments long before many other performers, male or female. When she began composing on the Buchla... more
George Benson recalls befriending Bob Cavanagh at the EU Wurlitzer Music store in Boston long before his noted career as an entertainer took off. George often visited the store and spent hours playing the instruments while Bob often showed him chords, provided picks and let him try out various... more
Honoring Madeleine Crouch for her invaluable service in assisting the NAMM Resource Center in obtaining fantastic interview contributions to the NAMM Oral History Program.
This video contains some of the highlight interviews that Madeleine helped us gather over the years. Thanks Madeleine!
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2014 and early 2015. This Tribute was shown for the first time at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California in January 2015. All moving images within this video, except for Jerry... more
Jose Saldivar has been with Remo for 30 years this year! He began with the company back in earlier days when the company was in North Hollywood. He is the Lead Hoopformer, making the hoops that house the drumhead. This is a crucial part of the process, as the the superior sound of the drumhead... more
Fernando Mendez is happy to speak about the many great things that are part of working for Remo. As the Lead Supervisor for the Drumhead Department, Fernando is at the heart of the production of Remo’s core products and has been for several decades. Fernando eloquently speaks about the family... more
Enrique Garcia is the Paint Booth Supervisor at Remo. Starting several decades ago with Remo, he is responsible for overseeing the application of all the amazing colors that appear on Remo products. He carefully explained how important it is and how careful you have to be to paint a drum head... more