Orlando's Wind Instruments makes its mark with horns
By Naughty Mickie  notymickie@earthlink.net

If you hear a sweet saxophone or tootling trumpet as you drive through El Monte, you might be near Orlando's Wind Instruments. Orlando Castaneda began repairing horns and providing custom work for professional musicians, friends and music stores in 1969.

"In 1988, I started my own company because I'd been doing it for so many years for everybody else," he said.

Castaneda's client list features trumpet players Lee Thornburg and Paul Littera and saxophonist Red Holloway, as well as groups like Mariachi Sol de Mexico and Mariachi Divas. He also works with Pioneer High School in Whittier, South Hills High School in West Covina and Covina Valley School District, as well as with such stores as the Fret House in Covina.

He began playing clarinet as a child and went on to tenor saxophone, which he played professionally at age 14 with bands from East Los Angeles. He majored in music at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut and at Cal Poly Pomona, and he now plays all the brass instruments and some strings.

"I deal with pros all the time so I know all the picky things pros like," Castaneda said. "I know a lot about the instruments that other people don't know."

Castaneda has teamed up with a factory in China to create his instruments, and the two also opened Gulf Music USA as an import company in America. In 1990, he began his student line and later created a professional saxophone line, with other professional brass instruments following quickly.

Until last year, Castaneda was working out of the garage at his West Covina home. His son finally convinced him to move to a warehouse in El Monte, but the economy forced some changes.

"We started focusing on the Mexican bands. I changed my market, and my repairs saved me," he said.

When he first started out, Castaneda served many of the instruments used by mariachi, bandas and taborasos. But over the years, some of his customers lost touch with him. Reaching out again, he has gained back former clients and continues to add to his roster, including local artists and those from Mexico. For Mexican customers, he is making custom trumpets that make the "old style" sound favored for Mexican music, and he will have also modified trombones ready this year.

"For the bandas, I have a valve trombone," he said. "I don't know why, but Mexicans ... we like a big bell sound. Even my saxophones have a big bell sound to them."

Mexican musicians often have their trombones cut in length, which alters the key from C to B flat. That can result in tuning problems and other issues. But Castaneda's line is produced in B flat and is in tune right off the shelf.

Castaneda is also reaching out to the community. While teaching music in middle and high schools, he met Buddy Collette, the co-founder of JazzAmerica, a Hollywood-based, tuition-free jazz- education program for children in Southern California. He began referring his students to the program, but this year he was told that the classes were full. Instead of giving up, Castaneda stepped up, offering his warehouse as a teaching venue.

JazzAmerica/East for students ages 15 to 19 will meet Saturdays from May to September, providing free education for all instruments used in jazz. The only rule is that participants must commit to attending
all the rehearsals and performances. Slated instructors include trumpet player Ray Ponson, saxophonist Don Mesa and saxophonist/pianist Paulie Cerra. Joseph Monte, a music historian from Covina, will also teach about the history and background of jazz and related genres.

These guys are tops in the field," Castaneda said. "We've got mariachi schools, which is nice, but we don't have anything for jazz."

The group will present five or six concerts at venues such as Covina Park, El Monte Senior Center and the Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit  www.orlandobandinstruments.com and www.jazzamerica.org

Calzone/Anvil Cases - solid and strong
By Naughty Mickie  notymickie@earthlink.net

It was 1975 in Connecticut.

"I was on the road playing in a band, I'm a drummer, and I got the need for some of my own cases. The only company available at the time was Anvil Cases way out in California," Joe Calzone said.

Calzone's father, the owner of a heating and air conditioning company, and his uncle, a carpenter, helped Calzone build some cases. After completing the task, Calzone realized that there had to be other musicians with the same problem - one he could solve - and by 1996 Calzone Case Company had manufacturing and customer service locations in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Carrollton, Texas and Industry, California. It also bought the Excalibur and Anvil Case Companies. Anvil and Calzone are well-known for their premium products and are a standard for cases in many industries.

"The biggest seller is our ability to build anything," Calzone said.

The company provides cases for a range of needs, including medical, sports and military. Its client list features the NFL, ESPN, the US Army Field Bands, the US Marine Band and artists like Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Fall Out Boy, Hank Williams Jr., John Mayer, KISS, Keith Urban, Sugarland and The Devil Wears Prada.

"We made a a case for P. Diddy's diamond-encrusted microphone and our cases can be seen in the Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel," Calzone said.

Items are primarily built to order. Customers can select from a range of basic designs, which are modified to their specifications, such as thickness, weight, color and material. The company's offerings continue to grow. It is now touting the iSeries, a line of imported cases created to meet the same standards as the American ones. The line is more affordable, opening the door for more customers, as well as gives the company a greater opportunity to fill more orders.

Musician and songwriter Jim Messina has joined with Calzone in developing the Light Flight Series, cases that address the problems and cost of checking musical gear on commercial airline flights. Most major airlines charge a minimum of $50 above their standard fee to transport a container weighing more than 50 pounds, with additional charges for those more than 100 pounds. The Light Flight Series features cases that use materials and hardware that are weigh less than Calzone and Anvil's traditional lines, yet still provide quality protection. The line also helps the environment by affecting fuel usage. Less weight means less fuel needed to transport equipment by road or air.

Lastly is the Wafer, a 14-inch round metal plate for drummers. It is placed on the floor under the snare drum to reflect its sound, making it more vibrant and, in turn, the drummer doesn't have to play as loud.

The Calzone Case Company has a very slight employee turnover with many employees working for it for more than 15 years.

"Last year January got very quiet," Calzone said.

In 2009, Calzone had to watch the company funds ever closer and unfortunately had to lay off some employees and cut wages. Toward the end of the year things began to turn around- October met the sales of October 2008. November and December followed strongly behind, coming in second and third, ending things with a very good quarter and a promising outlook for the future.

For more information on Calzone Case Company, call 800-243-5152 or visit www.calzonecase.com

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