Oral History - all
Dana Bourgeois formed Bourgeois Guitars in 1993, having already worked as a luthier on several projects including those with Paul Reed Smith and Eric Schoenberg. His passion for guitar building began in college when he read Classic Guitar Construction by Irving Stone. His first repair shop was... more
Bobby Thrasher has his roots in fabrication and was able to merry that talent into a career in music by accepting a position as a stage hand managing hydraulics with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Using that tour as a launching point, Bobby continued to excel within the industry eventually working on... more
Frank Baxter is the proud founder of Piano World (PianoWorld.com). Having programed webpages in the early 1990s, Frank used his skill and his insight that the web would soon be growing, to create a platform for his business. As a piano technician, Frank found his online marketing very successful as... more
Pete Langdell grew up in Northern Vermont and takes great pride in the fact that he has lived and worked in the same area his entire life. When he had an opportunity to establish his own musical instrument company, Rigel, making mandolins and guitars, he insisted the factory be located in Vermont. ... more
Adam Juzek recalls playing around in his father’s workshop as a kid. It never occurred to him to do anything other than working in the family business. As a result, Adam and his brother Rob, purchased the family business from their father in 2008. His family’s involvement in music goes back to the... more
Rob Juzek and his brother Adam are the owners of Metropolitan Music in Stowe, Vermont. The family business dates back to the very early 1900’s when his great uncle, John Juzek, began making violins. His brother, Rob’s grandfather, began selling the instruments and by 1920 their distribution company... more
Jacques Masson was just 15 years old when he began giving drum lessons at a local music store. He has been involved with teaching music ever since. As a player, Jacques was approached by Premier Drums to serve as an endorser in 1986, which served as his introduction into the music products industry... more
Rick Peate recalled the story of how his family’s multi-generational music business began and developed. During his NAMM Oral History interview, Rick talked about his innovative grandfather, George Peate, who moved to Montreal from Utica, New York as a teenager and opened a music store in 1899.... more
Stefano Galante is a recording engineer and producer who designed his own studio in his native Italy before moving to Montreal. Over the years, Stefano has witnessed many changes in the technology used within recording studios and has helped pioneer the use of new products. As a composer and... more
Guy Desjardins was composing and arranging music as technology in musical instruments was changing. His adaptation of these developments resulted in his nickname of Mr. MIDI. He was hired as a clinician for Akai-Digital and helped with product development for Steinberg as well. Along the way, he... more
Marc-Pierre Verge came to work on computer generated musical instruments by first studying acoustics. He and his colleagues at Applied Acoustics Systems used physical modeling to recreate the sounds of analog synthesizers and acoustic objects. When they released their first PC based products in... more
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... more
Dave Morrison is a big fan of Jimi Hendrix and was able to see the legendary guitarist in Toronto in the late 1960s. Dave’s passion for music was equaled only by his love of audio. When he found an opportunity to blend both, Dave not only found his dream job, but he established a company that... more
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... more
Letty Jo Randell formed her own music publishing company, Letting Go Music, after having worked for Screen Gems and a company she formed with her then husband, Denny Randell. She began using some of her poems to write tunes with Denny and later they collaborated on several other songs. She teamed... more
Mohini Dey is the noted bass player who has been playing professionally since she was ten years old. The world nearly lost the chance to hear her beautiful music as Mohini’s first career choice was to be a fashion designer. Her father, Sujoy Dey, is also a bass player and often performs with his ... more
Ralph Angelillo grew up inspired by Joe Morello. His dad was a bassist for big dance bands in the 1940s and '50s and his four brothers all played music. In 1961, at the age of 17, Ralph purchased his first Ludwig drum set, with money earned working as a busboy in local hotels. While working in the... more
Henry Diltz was the official photographer at Woodstock and has photographed over 200 record album covers including the iconic Morrison Hotel. His images have defined an era of music and inspired generations of artists. Henry sat down for his NAMM Oral History interview at the Anaheim trade show in... more
David Erny was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and like his father Larry, began working at Professor Larry's Music when he was a very young boy. David has been running the family business with his dad for a number of years. David played a key role in bringing the music store online with Internet... more
Larry Erny began working with his father when he was a very young boy, emptying trash and sweeping the floors in the store and traveling with him as he set up and created school band programs and music instruments all over Louisiana. Larry's dad was the first music teacher in the state and saw the... more