Jazz
Christy Coobatis is a college music professor whose amazing musical journey includes playing professionally before he was a teenager, beta testing guitars for Leo Fender, and helping to create a guitar synthesizer for Allan Holdsworth! Christy’s latest and longest tenure as a teacher has been at...
Keith Holzman cut his teeth as a theater director and lighting designer in New York. In 1964 he joined Elektra Records, which his brother Jac formed back in 1950. Keith coordinated production of all the label’s releases and later ran Elektra’s spin-off classical label, Nonesuch. The label released...
Daniel Neves is the founder of Música & Mercado (Music & Market), a Brazil-based magazine that focuses on promoting music-making and musical products. His passion for the industry led to his long-time leadership role in the country’s musical trade association Anafirma (the Brazillian Music...
John McClure played a vital role in welcoming the NAMM Show to Southern California each year as the National Accounts Manager for the Anaheim Visitors & Convention Bureau. John joined the bureau back in 1989 and always looked forward to the level of fun and energy the show brought. In fact,...
Doug Lawrence was first musically inspired by his father, a woodwinds player. However, at a young age he watched as his older brothers’ professional careers developed and Doug had tunnel vision after that, he wanted to be a professional musician! Latching on to the saxophone, Doug developed a style...
Larry Redhouse grew up in a house with six siblings who were all, like their mother, very musical. The family formed a musical act, the Redhouse Band, in the late 60s. The band played a large repertoire of styles including funk and jazz fusion, and cites influences such as Santana, Malo, and Tower...
Mark Altekruse, like so many passionate members of the music industry, specifically remembers the lessons he learned from one of his earliest and most influential music instructors. Trombonist Bugs Beddow was a local musician in Detroit who served as a musical mentor to young Mark, who went on to...
Gary Panton grew up in Niagara, New York, and played the drums and vibes in high school. It was there that he started his first band, a jazz trio. In 1970 he was hired by Dick Crino in Dunkirk, New York, to work in his small music store. While Gary started on the sales floor, he soon followed Dick’...
Jamey Aebersold’s name is synonymous with the play-a-long style music books, which have aided and inspired thousands upon thousands of musicians! Jamey does not refer to his publications as method books, but rather as a tool to have musicians tap into their creativity and use their imagination...
Bill Crow had a long and successful career as a jazz bassist for such Bebop pioneers as Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan. In later years he joined the board for the New York chapter of the Musicians Union, which led to his second career as a writer. He was asked to write a regular column for the union’...