OH Taxonomy
Clora Bryant was billed as the female Louie Armstrong in the era of the Ed Sullivan variety show. Her raspy-voiced imitations were a big favorite among viewers but the gimmick often over- shadowed her incredible talents as a trumpeter. Most music lovers don’t like to think about how Clora had to...
Joan Kramer was just out of high school when she was hired to do some office work at the NAMM headquarters building in Chicago. The year was 1947, a very important time in the industry’s history and NAMM’s own history. The association’s doors had been closed for two years during the war, affected...
Leita Jolly was celebrating her 100th birthday the week she was interviewed in 2003. On the occasion, she played the piano for her friends with her ragtime flare. In 1917, while World War I was ending, Leita was hired as a song plugger. Her main job was to play the latest songs in the music store...
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2003. All moving images within this video indicate those who have been interviewed as part of the NAMM Oral History program. Larger segments of their interviews are posted here on...
Logan Swords has always been passionate about music and about promoting music makers. As a young child he began playing drums and found out first-hand the benefits of music making. When he opened his own music retail shop in Fort Worth, Texas, he found himself in the position of bringing those...
Lloyd McCausland worked with Remo Belli when the famed Hollywood drummer began creating his own line of synthetic drumheads in the late 1950s. Lloyd became a fixture at the company and was known to dealers and musicians alike. As vice president, Lloyd played a large role in the marketing of the...
John Carruthers has established himself as a leading expert on guitars and amplifiers as a designer, builder and repairman. Working along side Leo Fender at Music Man, John helped improve the quality of the product line and years later helped establish a series of instruments for Yamaha including...
Fujio Suzuki was the president of the Suzuki Musical Instrument Company in Japan in 2003 when the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music celebrated the launching of the new Hammond-Suzuki B-3. Fujio Suzuki took the stage alongside the president of the United States office of Suzuki and legendary...
Michael Dresdner loves woodworking, so when the opportunity came up to build guitars he jumped at it. He designed and built several styles of acoustic guitars before being hired by the C.F. Martin & Company. He later worked for Young Chang, the piano company, as they wanted to expand their...
Bob Luly built the first sound system for the Rolling Stones that they used in the United States. The system was created for the Orange Show in the 1960s and led Bill to build systems for the likes of Three Dog Night and Frank Zappa (whom Bill played electric bass for on stage in the early part of...