Oral History - all
Lorin Hollander is a world-renowned concert pianist with a continuously acclaimed 50-year international career that began with a Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 11. Lorin was an infant child prodigy who composed music at age three and performed Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier at five. Since then, he... more
Birth Date: September 24, 1919
Deceased Date: August 19, 2018
Jack Costanzo, also known as Mr. Bongo, nearly single-handedly (sorry for the pun) brought the bongo to enormous popularity in the 1950s. Jack recorded top selling albums, appeared on TV and in the movies, and gained a fan following at the height of the “lounge sound,” as it has come to be known.... more
Birth Date: January 3, 1930
Deceased Date: October 5, 2010
Karl Bruhn was the Bob Hope of the music industry, having received so many awards and accolades – an award should have been given for the most awards received. Karl gained his reputation as an advocate for arts education and accompished much on many levels to teach an understanding of music and... more
Craig Anderton was among a very small group of engineers at the dawn of the synthesizer revolution during the 1970s that was in the position to report, educate and compose music based on this new technology as it was being created. His monthly articles for Keyboard magazine have become a historic... more
Eddie Toporek began as an innovative musical wholesaler when he set out to create a new type of distribution business, with a heavy influence on the latest technology. As a result Eddie created software for invoicing and account management that was not available in the late 1970s and early 80s.... more
Louise Leed met her future husband while performing as a singer in her native South Africa. After having their four children, her British husband, David, suggested the family move back to Europe where David soon got a job with a piano company and then with the world-famous wholesaler Chicago... more
Birth Date: January 8, 1937
Deceased Date: March 7, 2018
David Leed was born in 1937 in the United Kingdom and spent the war years and most of his childhood in Australia. His love of music started when he was a young boy learning to play the cornet in his local Salvation Army. After returning to London and finishing school David played the cornet in... more
Robert J. Jones traveled on a tour bus with his father and sang gospel music together for many years as the Song Fellows. They recorded for Homeland Records in Nashville and performed around the country. In 1957, Robert’s father opened Valley Music Company in Bakersfield, CA, where Robert worked... more
David Teegarden, the drummer for the Silver Bullet Band and noted recording engineer, was among the first musicians to be interviewed for the NAMM Resource Center collection. With a growing number of industry leaders from all aspects of the music products industry, the collection needed the views... more
Birth Date: July 24, 1921
Deceased Date: December 28, 2010
Billy Taylor was first and foremost a jazz pianist. This fact might surprise some people who knew Billy best for one of a number of other careers he enjoyed in music, including teaching, composing and advocating for music education. As a jazz performer, Billy learned from the best including Ben... more
Birth Date: March 23, 1938
Deceased Date: October 3, 2015
Dave Pike made an indelible mark on jazz vibraphones! As a percussive based player, Dave wanted to play with both rhythm and pitch and to explore melodies within Bebop riffs. He played with many of the legends of jazz and in doing so created music that would result in his own status as a jazz icon... more
Birth Date: January 24, 1926
Deceased Date: June 22, 2020
Curtis Pearson served proudly during World War II and, upon returning to the United States, was told of a sales job at the Poole Music Company. After several successful years and getting the bug to sell, Curtis formed the first of seven music stores in North Carolina called Pearson's Music. The... more
Birth Date: March 15, 1944
Deceased Date: January 1, 2021
Günter Körner began designing musical instruments at an early age growing up in Germany and, after gaining an engineering degree in college, he spent his entire career making instruments. He began working on designs and production improvements for the saxophone, spending years with the instruments... more
Birth Date: March 11, 1918
Deceased Date: March 31, 2011
Norman Goldberg studied music from an early age and became a band director early in his life. Seeing the needs of music educators, Norman opened his own store called Baton Music in 1948, in St. Louis, MO. A year later he began working with German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982) and Orff’s unique and... more
Birth Date: March 15, 1919
Deceased Date: November 22, 2017
George Avakian produced so many pop and jazz recordings over his 50 plus year career with several labels it might be easier to list the recordings he did not take part in. Before entering World War II George had already produced his first recording, as well as writing about the music that he loved... more
Myung‑Sool Min has become one of the most successful music retailers in Korean history. Through a period in which many changes occurred in the way Korea does business around the world, Mr. Min has stayed consistent with his philosophy on music education. A steady increase in the number of music... more
Birth Date: September 2, 1927
Deceased Date: October 25, 2009
Gordon Keller owned and operated a string of piano stores in and around northern Virginia and became a much-celebrated figure in the area due to his work at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap. Mr. Keller was also a well-regarded leader within the music products industry and among piano technicians.... more
Birth Date: February 12, 1939
Deceased Date: May 20, 2013
Ray Manzarek founded the iconic rock band The Doors on the beach in Venice in 1965 with his friend from UCLA film school, Jim Morrison. From that sunny summer day of sharing songs and the idea of starting a rock band, Ray and Jim went on to become immortal rock royalty. Having picked up a Vox organ... more
Gary Kramer broke into the music products industry, with partner Travis Bean, when they unveiled the innovative all aluminum guitar neck design in the early 1970’s. With his entrepreneurial experience, he soon improved upon that design and started the foundation for the Kramer Guitar Empire that... more
Birth Date: April 23, 1931
Deceased Date: November 23, 2009
Neil A. Kjos, Jr. took over the music publishing company that his father, Neil A. Kjos, Sr. had formed in 1936. He began by developing and adding the best-selling Bastien Piano publications to a catalog that had previously focused exclusively on instrumental and choral publications. Development... more