OH Taxonomy
Gene Garb is the Vice President of NEMC, joining the company only a few years after it was established in the 1950s. NEMC is a school oriented music wholesaler located in Mountainside, New Jersey. The company’s focus has been to work closely with schools to create rental programs that best support...
Takashi “Hagi” Hagiwara has been called the “godfather of Yamaha drums” as the unofficial ambassador of the company’s percussive products around the world. His father was a silversmith in Tokyo, a profession he was thought to continue, however he decided to take a part time job as a teenager in a...
Ray Benedetto and Gene Garb were interviewed together in connection with the 50th anniversary of NEMC (National Educational Music Company) at the NAMM show in 2007. Ray, the president and founder, has worked closely with Garb, the vice president, for 47 years. Together they outlined the original...
Eileen Kilday and her husband worked hard to re-build an old piano bench making company, which they renamed GRK. This project for the Kilday’s began in 1988 with the purchase of the old company and since that time both have been regular exhibitors at the NAMM Show as well as at other industry...
Helene La Faro has been asked countless times to recount the short but extremely influential musical career of her brother, jazz bassist Scott La Faro. In fact, she began collecting the notes of her many responses and compiled them into a book on Scott’s life. Nearly all jazz bass players can...
John Bowen was an engineer at Sequential Circuits during the early days of the synthesizer boom of the late 1970s. John worked with founder Dave Smith, who later went on to develop the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) specifications. John helped write the MIDI code and went on to design...
Bob Lozier began working at Freeman Companies with Howard Bailey in the 1960s to support the NAMM shows. Over the years, Bob has been instrumental in forming the infrastructure to support the policies and procedures enabling the growth of the NAMM shows and several other trade conventions...
Vinny Testa was the founder of Testa Communications, which he established in 1984 to provide the music products industry with such trade magazines as The Music & Sound Retailer and DJ Times. Vinny enjoyed pioneering new ways of connecting with his readers including being one of the first to...
Vince Grantano was a fixture among traveling piano representatives. He traveled the entire United States for several companies over the years to bring new products to retailers. His most notable job was with the Winter Piano Company where he worked for several decades. Vince joined the National...
Prescott Niles was the original bassist for the Knack. His driving licks can be heard on the classic recording of “My Sharona” and his strong rhythmic teaming with band drummer Bruce Gary has been the source of inspiration for a generation of garage bands the world over. Prescott endorsed several...