Oral History - all
Holly Hofmann is one of the only female jazz flute players who does not double on other instruments but in fact prefers to focus her time and talents as a flutist. With little in the way of jazz flute history, Holly has been a pioneer in the field for the last several decades. She has also been a... more
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... more
Birth Date: May 2, 1943
Deceased Date: April 21, 2016
Jerry Muenchow a veteran of the music industry worked in music retail for five years before joining the famed Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI) as a field sales representative in Michigan. Jerry held that position for 10 years before becoming a Regional Sales Manager for Fender Musical... more
Beverly Grigsby was enrolled in medical school in Los Angeles when on the way home from class one day she stopped into a small music studio. There she met electronic composer Ernst Krenek who would later become her mentor after she decided to drop out of medical school and focus on becoming an... more
Birth Date: May 12, 1932
Deceased Date: April 2, 2021
Millie Detgen was one of the very few female manufacturers reps in the music products industry in the 1970’s and 80’s. She began working with her husband Gene Detgen after they were married in 1971. Gene was the Sales Manager at Pacific Music Supply in Los Angeles at that time. His main product... more
Charlotte Atkinson is an organist extraordinaire! Showing an aptitude for music early on, Charlotte continued with formal education earning Bachelor and Masters degrees in music. At San Diego State University, she first met her husband, William, in Howard Brubeck's theory class. In her junior year... more
Wade Stewart entered the pro audio industry in the late 1960s when he worked along side Bob Crooks, the founder of Standel Amplifiers. In the early 1970s he formed Wade Electronics and focused on repairing Standel products, as well as most other brands of amplifiers of the day. When he created and... more
Scott Mandeville is a well regarded band instrument repairman who has developed into a noted teacher and expert, serving other repairman through his classes, sessions and writings for NAPBIRT (the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians). Scott is the owner of Tim’s... more
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... more
Birth Date: December 2, 1936
Deceased Date: August 16, 2020
Donald Johnson was known throughout the industry as DJ. He began working in music retail in 1958 in the San Jose, California, area before joining Coast Wholesale in 1961. It was an interesting and historic time to begin calling on retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. The folk music boom was... more
Gary Hoey is a fantastically gifted guitar player who continues to inspire fans around the world. Honing and perfecting his chops on the East Coast, Gary’s talent was recognized early on by Ozzy Osbourne who invited him out to California to audition. That introduction was the springboard that... more
Birth Date: January 12, 1946
Deceased Date: August 5, 2013
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... more
Gary Wineroth is the president of the Guitar Showcase in San Jose, California, one of the best loved music retailers in the music products industry. With a historic past, the store has created a special position within the industry and for its generations of customers. Gary takes great pride in the... more
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... more
Jack Tempchin remembers buying his first harmonica at Ozzie’s Music in San Diego at the height of Bob Dylan’s influence as a performer and songwriter. Along with other influences, Jack found himself writing his own songs, including several that have become standards in popular music during the... more
Robert Scott is known throughout the music industry as Doc Scott, the inventor of the Doc Pro Plug ear products. After running a family clinic in the Santa Cruz area of California for years, Doc continued to encounter hearing issues occurring in musicians and surfers alike. He developed an earplug... more
Bernie Krause teamed with Paul Beaver to form the popular and innovative team of Beaver & Krause and recorded a number of early electronic albums in the 1960s and 70s. They also worked on hundreds of movies using synthesizers such as the APR 2600 and the Module Moog, for which they were the... more
Eddie Kramer began his long career as a record salesman in the San Francisco Bay Area before opening his own record store in the 1960s. As the Beatle Boom began, Eddie was selling a few guitars and some accessories, which were about 10% of his business at the San Carlos-based Eddie Kramer’s World... more
Harold Jones has toured with Tony Bennett for over three decades, topping off a solid career as a jazz drummer with a flare for singers. Harold worked with Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald as well as Carman McCrae. His association with the music industry goes back to the 1940s when he endorsed the... more
Kazuo Ishibashi spent over 25 years in the Special Equipment Division of JVC (Japan Victor Corporation) and headed their musical instrument engineering section. JVC marketed electronic organs and portable keyboards in Japan under the "Victron" label and exported them under the "JVC" brand. In the... more