Oral History - all
Birth Date: October 25, 1918
Deceased Date: October 1, 2003
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... more
Birth Date: February 23, 1910
Deceased Date: July 9, 2004
Charles Gorby was a true visionary for the music products industry and the founder of Gorby Music in West Virginia. As a lone store retailer, Charlie was a regular attendee at the NAMM shows beginning in the 1940s when the industry was trying to get back in swing after World War II. He spoke at a... more
Gary Burton, the renowned vibraphonist, provided wonderful and detailed insight into the Musser Company that he has been linked with for most of his life. He traced the company’s history through the Ludwig purchase and included his thoughts about the company’s percussive product line. He also spoke... more
Birth Date: January 19, 1927
Deceased Date: March 6, 2018
Bob Bull held many positions throughout the music products industry over his long career. However, he is perhaps best known as the president of the Steinway & Sons piano company during the early 1970s. At the time, Steinway was owned by CBS Musical Instruments. Bob, as the president of Steinway... more
Birth Date: July 14, 1927
Deceased Date: January 16, 2013
Herb Brochstein had a million stories about his long and successful career in the industry. One of these stories was about how he developed a new drumstick and formed ProMark, one of the leading innovators in the music industry. Other stories Herb could tell include his years as a drum retailer in... more
David Briggs is a great example that not everyone in the music products industry enters into it because of their passion for music. David’s passion is business, and he has developed one of the strongest retail chains in the UK, Dawson’s Music. Mr. Briggs noted, “Looking for ways to improve what we... more
Q David Bowers contributed greatly to the archiving of the music products industry. As an author, he researched and published several books on the early era of mechanical instruments. His 1972 publication, The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments, has become the definitive reference source... more
Carl Bosse played an important role in the uncovering of our industry’s history when he sat down for our interview to discuss the Artley Flute Company. Since Mr. Artley had passed away in the 1960s and Carl’s father, Richard Bosse, who had owned the company but was in poor health to relay his... more
Lee Berk’s father had a unique idea in teaching music, bringing the passion and fun of music making into the classroom. The Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA was founded with those ideas and in the decades to follow was built on those ideas by his son, Lee. Lee ensured that jazz programs were... more
Birth Date: May 24, 1945
Deceased Date: March 14, 2010
John Beltrandi served as a road rep for Kaman Music on the east coast for over 40 years. He traveled mostly in Massachusetts and Connecticut and helped pioneer the Ovation guitar, which was not well accepted when it was first introduced, but built up a strong audience in the early years. The... more
Birth Date: December 15, 1936
Deceased Date: May 2, 2015
Dick Bell was surprised by the impact he had on the music industry, a fact that became clear to him at the NAMM Show 2009, when the Roland Corp gave him a retirement party and NAMM requested an interview for the Oral History program. He began his career in the music industry, as Dick said, “with no... more
Ruby Beeston was a piano teacher when she suggested that a local piano store carry sheet music. The store offered her space to sell the materials, which led to her opening a small chain of retail shops in the Salt Lake City, UT area. In searching for a store name she and her husband thought about... more
Tom Beckmen opened a music store with his band director while still in college in 1958. The relationships he created in the store lead to a road salesman job with C. Bruno. He traveled the country for nearly a decade before establishing his own distribution company, Beckmen Musical. He later began... more
John H. Beck has an amazing talent for explaining the art of music making, not just teaching music, but providing meaning to the student in ways that fuel their passion. As the principal timpanist for the Rochester Philharmonic and a well-respected professor at the Eastman School of Music, John H... more
Birth Date: June 9, 1939
Deceased Date: December 24, 2009
Larry Bearce formed Reston Music in northern Virginia in the 1960s and later opened several locations in the area. One key to the store’s success was the man himself. He was a dedicated music maker who found personal satisfaction in watching student’s progress and learn music. He took pride in... more
Birth Date: April 14, 1922
Deceased Date: August 7, 2010
Robert Beals was just a young man when he first met Chick Evans. The two worked to perfect and promote Mr. Evan’s idea of a synthetic drumhead in the 1950s. Up until that time, drumheads were made from cow skin, which presented several problems. With the skin drumheads, any change in temperature... more
Susan Beacock walked into a shopping mall with her music director husband in 1978 and noticed a small empty shop. He suggested they open a music store with a focus on teaching studios. Susan, without any discussion, agreed. With years of hard work and the challenges of strong competition, the... more
Birth Date: May 1, 1930
Deceased Date: August 4, 2011
Dale Beacock grew up with a love of band music. After college he was hired as a band director and he felt as if his dreams had come true. He worked hard to design methods of teaching that brought out the best in his students, and he always sought ways of improving his bands. Over the years he felt... more
William Bay grew up in the music business and like his father, contributed to the field of music method publications. Mel Bay was a pioneer in guitar method books, which he designed for players of all levels. He formed the Mel Bay Music Publishing Company in 1947 outside of St. Louis, MO. ... more
Birth Date: April 25, 1922
Deceased Date: May 31, 2015
Abe Wollam was a close associate of Bud Reglein. Beginning in the 1940s, Abe worked with Bud at the jj Babbitt Mouthpiece Company out of Elkhart, IN. Abe developed strong engineering skills, which proved to be invaluable as the company grew over the years and required specialized tooling. As... more