Trade Regrets: Al Jensen

On April 10, NAMM‘s Dan Del Fiorentino shared the following sad news:

Music retailer and long-time music advocate, Al Jensen, passed away on Friday. He was 94 years old.

Al began his musical career at the age of 13 playing clarinet in a Vaudeville show. That is, he played until his parents found out where he was playing. His band director convinced Al’s parents that if he switched to an oboe, he would never play such music again. As an oboist, Al received a scholarship from Julliard and was later hired by several symphonies including the NBC orchestra led by Toscanini. After teaching band and making his own oboe reeds, Al and his wife Marie opened up Jensen’s Music Store in Enid, Oklahoma. They sold the store to Brook Mays in 2000, but rented the space next door to continue to sell church organs for another five years before retiring.