OH Taxonomy
Howard Paul is the president of Benedetto Guitars and has had a passion for the instrument since he was a kid. In fact, Howard was playing professionally when he was thirteen. Over the years, he befriended several key jazz guitarists who were mentors to him, including Chuck Wayne and Jimmy Bruno....
Tim Paul may have been destined for a career in the piano business. Growing up, his mother was a piano teacher and his father a piano technician. One of his earliest jobs was as a ballpark organist for the Midwest League baseball teams, the Quad City Cubs and the Clinton Dodgers. After studying...
Bob Ulius began working in the music industry when San Francisco retailer, Stu Goldberg, hired Bob at Marina Music in 1969. It was the beginning of a long career that included gigs at Leo’s Pro Audio in Oakland, California, and with Sound Genesis. Bruce Hatch formed Sound Genesis, which was located...
Luis Miranda often visited the Palladium Theater as a teenager to dance. During one visit, Luis was asked by a member of the band if he played the congas since their conga player was out sick. This was the beginning of a 70 plus year career as a Latin percussionist! He worked with some of the...
Larry Batiste has served as the musical director for the TEC Awards for over 20 years. His love for music all started when his uncle’s piano arrived in his home while Larry was a child. He later picked up the trombone and played throughout high school and college. He fine-tuned his arranging skills...
Dick Papalia witnessed a need for organ and piano owners in his neighborhood to have their instruments serviced in the early years of the home organ boom of the 1960s. As a result, in 1968, with the help of the Baldwin Piano Company, Dick established his music store. The store was originally called...
Joyce Harkey took regular piano lessons as a child and remembers the day when she was a teenager and her love for music just clicked. She focused on what she could do to use music to help others and with her mom’s background in nursing, Joyce studied music therapy. After getting married, she...
Neal Preston recounted a special photograph he took while on tour with Led Zeppelin in the 1970s. The image captured Jimmy Page playing guitar as stage smoke was raising and the iconic musician looked right into Neal’s camera lens. It was one of a dozen stories Neal provided during his NAMM Oral...
Kevin Brandon is the studio bass player known as "Brandino". While he was born in Southern California, his musical roots go back to New Orleans. When he was four, he met Louis Armstrong, which he feels changed the course of his life. Over the years, he toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and...
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...