OH Taxonomy
Al Kowalenko oversaw one of the largest growths in the music products industry during the 1980s and 1990s –the Canadian market. As president of MIAC, beginning in 1979, Al fostered the development of the Canadian annual music fair and the relationships between retailers and suppliers. Al has also...
Bob Gallien has been an innovator in bass guitar amplification for some 30 years! Inspired as a young guitar player in the 1960s by bands like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, Bob loved the role the bass guitar had in rock music, although it was clear the sound needed improving. As co-founder of...
Jesse Flores was the founder of Flores Music stores located in Peoria and Pekin, Illinois. He had the idea of surrounding himself with music when he was a young boy and when the chance came to open a store, he took it. The year was 1957. Jesse saw the rise of the electric guitar and the home organ...
Bob Heil received his first break into the pro audio market when the Grateful Dead’s sound system was not available for a concert date. Bob’s own powerful system was used, and a new name for speakers and microphones was born into the world. Several of his innovative products, including sound...
Pat Downes combined his engineering background with his passion for music to create the electronic air drums. Forming the company Palm Tree Instruments, Pat became an inventor in the world of electronic mechanical devices that produce sounds. The air drums are among his most noted products, which...
Paolo Fazioli heard a special piano sound in his head and yet was unable to find an instrument that was capable of producing the sound, so he built his own pianos. Beginning in 1978, he developed the techniques and use of special woods to craft one of the most revered sounds in the piano industry....
John Worthington began as an engineer in the early days of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and, in fact, helped program the MIDI time code. John also worked at Apple Computers during the company’s early involvement in computer music. His work led to the establishment of the music...
Ray Kurzweil appeared on the popular 1950s and 1960s quiz show “I’ve Got a Secret” to reveal that he had made a computer that could make music. Since those early days, Ray has come to define the computer age of music making. Founder of Kurzweil Music, Ray designed some of the industry’s most noted...
Happy Traum began his musical career in the 1960s, greatly influenced by the folk movement that had gripped the culture in America. He and his late brother, Artie, helped establish a New York scene for folk music along with some of their friends and fellow-musicians such as a young Bob Dylan. After...
Dean Markley thought there must be a better way of making a guitar string, so he found it and in the process changed the way accessory products were sold. Founder of Dean Markley Strings, he often sought to refine the manufacturing process to produce a larger variety of strings for a gamut of...