Wolfe (Tayne) Taninbaum Interview
By Skip Spratt
Wolfe Tayne is a legendary name among saxophone mouthpiece
manufacturers, professional musicians and entrepreneurs in
the music manufacturing business. The same Wolfe Taninbaum
- now 90 years old - had an illustrious career playing in
the studios and sound stages in New York during the Big Band
Era of days gone by. His seven-year tenure with Les Brown's
Band of Renown is well documented. However, he also shared
the stage with big band greats Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey,
Doris Day and the studio orchestras at NBC and CBS. His self-starter
spirit has seen him envision and develop companies including
Wolfe Tayne Music Studios, Wolfe Tayne Mouthpieces and BARI,
Inc. - all the while maintaining a place among New York's
finest recording musicians dating back to the 1930s and 1940s.
Wolfe Taninbaum, a native of Mt. Vernon, New York, has been
living in South Florida for nearly 30 years. He still resides
in Ft. Lauderdale where he enjoys a "boring life" among
other retirees. In June of 2007, Wolfe Taninbaum lost his
wife Sylvia to a long-term illness. He and Sylvia were married
for almost 67 years and shared many successes as well as
challenges along the way. His feelings of loss were still
raw at the time of this interview but Wolfe Taninbaum continues
to move forward. He still seeks to help others with mouthpiece
facings and the search for the perfect mouthpiece.
Wolfe's passion for music and the manufacturing business
has undoubtedly been passed on through his genes. His son,
Richard Taninbaum is founder and President of Rhythm Tech
Corporation with an impressive list of credits of his own.
Whether you know him as Wolfe Taninbaum, Wolffe Taninbaum
or Wolfe Tayne, this man has packed 90 years of life full
of great memories and stories of a simpler time and he's
not done yet!
I understand you are working a bit again - refacing mouthpieces
again at age 90.
Yes, that's right. Sylvia passed away back in June and I'm
trying to keep myself busy with my interests.
First of all I'd like to clear up the correct spelling of
your name. There are many recording credits listed for "Wolfe
Taninbaum," "Wolffe Taninbaum" and even "Wolfe
Tayne." Have you worked under all three names?
Yes, I have. There was a time when my sister said, "You
aught to spell your name with two f's." (Laughs) It
was stupid. There was also a period where individuals like
myself would shorten their "ethnic sounding" names.
That's how I began to use the stage name "Tayne" instead
of my family name "Taninbaum."
….YOU CAN READ THIS
COMPLETE INTERVIEW IN AN UPCOMING ISSUE OF SAXOPHONE JOURNAL.
Contact dornpub.com for subscription information.
Used by permission.
© 2008 by Dorn Publications, Inc.
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