NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants and is held every January in Southern California at the Anaheim Convention Center. I am blessed with living in So Cal and have gone to the show for years now.

This years show was a very different show from past shows in that the recession and music industry in general has been going thru some very tough times. With that said, the numbers seemed low and dealers complained about sales this year, yet it was a fun show with lots of toys for the musician to check out, learn about and enjoy.

Many of the regulars where not there this year yet the number of vendors was still high. One strange thing was the occasional open booth space that left a stark reminder that we are living in very different times.

I started this years show, as always, at Yamaha. I am a Yamaha saxophone artist and Yamaha is where I get my badge for the event, so I always take a trip thru Yamaha's NAMM display to check out the gear and say Hi to the Yamaha regulars I have come to know thru the years. The only really NEW thing at Yamaha this year was the Phoenix Alto Sax. Design is a traditional Custom Z but the black lacquer on this sax is inside and outside the bell and the engraving comes from an 1887 image Yamaha used on musical instruments many years ago of the mythical Phoenix bringing music to Earth. The Phoenix is available for Alto Saxophone, Trumpet and Trombone and is a limited edition release to mark the 50th anniversary of Yamaha in the USA.

The Yamaha display had all the main wind instruments, Saxophones, Clarinets, and Oboes in the Woodwind area. I played a few of the saxes and flutes again this year and have to say I love silver saxes and the wood flute is very cool. They didn't bring out the Alto Flute or Bass Flute this year so I was spared the big flute lust I usually enjoy this time of year. Thanks Yamaha - I think!?!?

After hanging at the Marriott with Yamaha I hit the main floor of the Convention Center and was overwhelmed with all the gear again this year. I always attend with such high hopes of playing lots of things, recording everything and posting finding and opinions for the web sites. This year I was not working a Yamaha Show since many cut backs included the very expensive shows they have produced over recent years. I thought I would get even more WORK done without the distraction of performances, but realize I really didn't. I hung out a bunch, talked to lots of people and had a relaxed and enjoyable show this year.

Some of the stuff I love is the odd instruments. This Straight Tenor by Dakota (the guy that used to own LA Sax and brought Straight Altos and Tenors into production a few years back) was very odd and very fun to play and see reactions to.

Dakota also had a straight Alto Sax which seemed much more usable in the real world, but the Tenor was a freak and that's the one I played for a couple of hours as people walked by asking, "What the heck is that?" Pretty Fun!



I think the biggest part of the NAMM show that musicians enjoy is the hang! Seeing guys you don't get to see all the time and catching up and maybe grabbing some coffee and playing, sharing and exchanging stories and industry tidbits. Ronnie Laws had a new line of Saxophones with him name on them and I really had fun hanging with Ronnie and his wife and daughter on Day 2.

I did hook up with Nadir at PMS - Guardala. I have known Nadir for some time now due to the Guardala Scam crap and trust him greatly. I actually handed him my original Guardala handmade, prototype mouthpiece for repair, replating and facing. I retired the piece when I bought one of his new Crescent Tenor Mouthpieces a few years back, and know he is the GUY for Guardala work and Guardala design at this point. I should get it back, better than new in a few weeks and am pretty excited about it!! This MPC was a Michael Brecker original prototype that was opened up a little too much for Michael and then became mine! I played it for many years until it was too wasted to play and had no one I trusted to restore it until now.



SO, lots of time with Nadir, looking at restoration pictures from recent Guardala's he had worked on, and then we had a long run at the Theo Wanne booth checking out the new Durga and Kalli MPCs - both very cool!

I found some great Penny Whistles I want to order, played a ton of saxes, hung with friends late into the morning and took some pictures and videos. I just posted pics last night on Flickr, and the link is here if you want to look thru more NAMM pictures! Other booths I spent a good deal of time at were RS Berkeley, Rheuben Allen and Kenny G, CannonBall, Mauriat, Selmer US and Paris France, Akai EWI and Audio Technica. Most my time was spent down in the wind area due to the high volume of interesting people for the Saxophone world that work and hang down there.

Overall - a great NAMM Show and some good leads with work usually follow. We'll see how that plays out! I will be posting more on the Phoenix Alto soon and don't forget to check the pics at Flickr!

Blessings for a great 2009!
Greg Vail Saxophonist and NAMM goofball...