National Association of Music Merchants
NAMM 2006 in Anaheim, CA
by Shannon Kennedy
This year I had to work (I mean “had the pleasure of working”) the NAMM show. As an exhibitor for HollywoodWinds Saxophones, I had most of Saturday and a few other times that I was able to sneak away during the four days. Working the show was interesting, I got a little taste of everything having worked at the HollywoodWinds, Beechler, BG France, and SaxRax stands throughout NAMM. I did however, miss getting the full floor time.
While I was there I checked out a few things. I went back to P. Mauriat and played through their booth several times and took friends over to do the same. Roger Greenburg is a really great guy to tolerate having to hear me play tenor sax so often.
Of course, I hung out at D’Addario and Rico for a significant amount of time. Jean-Francois Rico and John D’Addario were kind enough to grant me interviews, which will be up on the site very soon.
Something new to me at the show were Marca Reeds. The company was started in 1953 by Franco Guccini, and he and his grandson Nick were there at the booth. The two of them were the nicest people and I had a lot of fun practicing my French. They gave me reeds to try out, and I cannot wait to try them out.
And of course, at HollywoodWinds, there was the most incredible bari sax, of which I am now the proud owner! The copper bari played so wonderfully with a nice dark tone (with a silver neck) and the horn really projected. An added bonus is that it has a case that I can actually carry! I am pretty excited because I have a cool looking pink saxophone that plays better than it looks (and I’m telling you it looks pretty good).
At NAMM, you get a lot of Chinese instruments, so I checked some flutes out and ended up buying a purple flute with gold plated keys to have just for fun. I was surprised that the horn can actually play, but I’m not sure if I will use it for anything other than putting it on my wall.
GB France also caught my attention this year. I helped Franck Bichon with the booth for a moment. GB France really offers great products, and has a lot of new great products out. I got a “Tradition” ligature for my Rousseau for classical music, and a great pouch for my bari necks. I strongly recommend checking out their “propacks” (kits with everything you could ever need for any woodwind instrument), cleaning cloths, pad dryers, and neck pouches. I am definitely a new regular user of GB France products.
Going to NAMM all four days was a very different experience. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else, but I would do it again anyway. If you do it right, it is a really great way to meet new and wonderful musicians, see your musician friends, and get to try out and see anything you could imagine.
