OH Taxonomy
Jeff Saltzman has been involved with the violin since being introduced to the Suzuki Method when he was a child. His grandfather and father both worked as wholesalers in musical instruments. His grandfather, Joseph, worked with Paul Sorkin to form Sorkin Music back in 1938. His father, Mark...
David Ash recalls the story where his grandmother hocked her wedding ring to help fund the family's store, Sam Ash Music. David's parents and brothers have followed in growing the business and expanding the one location into dozens more. After earning his law degree and practicing law for years,...
Derek Ash recalls that every family gathering always included talk of the music store. After all, Derek's great-grandfather was the founder of the family's business, Sam Ash Music. Thanksgiving was only complete with turkey, pumpkin pie, and talk of the upcoming holiday sales! Derek's first NAMM...
Adam Ash likes to joke that he never attended sleep away camp during the summers from school as his summer months were spent in the store, and he wouldn't have had it any other way! Adam's great-grandfather formed Sam Ash Music, with the help of his wife, Adam’s great grandmother. Since then, the...
Steve Prisco has been active in music since he was 14 years old playing trumpet for the school band program. He studied graphic design and worked on the early computer desk top publishing programs for creating advertisements. In 1989, Steve began working for Sam Ash Music. He worked closely with...
Barry Horowitz first joined the team at Sam Ash in 1971! The small retail store was just expanding under the direction of the founder's two sons, Jerry and Paul. Jerry became like a second father to Barry, taking extra time to create learning opportunities. As a result of Jerry's encouragement,...
DJ Imperial JayCee first played records in the parks back in 1974. The world of Disco had created a career for DJ Kool Herc, a hero in JayCee's Bronx neighborhood, which inspired him to take out records in the local park to entertain people. In 1977, he officially joined Herc's crew of DJs just as...
Kool DJ Red Alert, from Harlem New York, grew up listening to the Caribbean music of his grandparents as well as his brother's record collection. He was greatly inspired the day he first witnessed the father of Hip Hop, Kool DJ Herc, performing. He soon began bringing his turntables out to the park...
DJ Hollywood always had the showbiz bug, even at six years old he would perform at his mother's parties. As he saw crowds gather to hear music in the Harlem parks, Hollywood brought out his records to get the people to dance, and they have been dancing ever since! During his NAMM Oral History...
DJ Mean Gene (L Brothers) from the Bronx, was not only a legendary DJ but an early Hip Hop promoter and organizer of jams and shows. Gene was Grandmaster Flash's first DJ partner. His youngest brother is Grand Wizzard Theodore who invented the Scratch. Gene, Theodore and their other brother Cordio...