Ponte Music Company
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A venerable music store located first on 48th Street, known as The Music Block in Manhattan and then 46th Street when that street was taken for parking structures.
In the 1930's, as it is today, New York City was a Mecca for all varieties of musician from saxophone pioneer Charlie Parker to Maestro Arturo Toscanini. Though not quite at that elite level as a player, Charles Ponte was English hornist of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra as well as a member of the Paul Whiteman and Les Brown Bands. His big band sax sound and not inconsiderable ability to play the elusive double reeds helped him become quite well known among musicians throughout NYC in the 1930's and 1940's. He played with or was friends with Lester Young, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Harold Gomberg, Samuel Baron and dozens more of the worlds finest musicians from all genres. It was during this time that he became close friends with Benny Fairbanks and Sam Shapiro, both soloists with major big bands. The three of them appeared together in "Hold that Ghost" with superstar sex symbol Jean Harlow and the Three Stooges.
From the 1930's through the 1970's, West 48th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues was the block to be on if you were a top woodwind repairmen or had a music store for professionals in Manhattan. Broadway theatres, Carnegie Hall and later, Lincoln Center were all nearby. It was a natural spot for all kinds of musicians to gather between matinees and after shows or performances. Charlie, Benny and Sam decided that although they loved performing, being on the road and working late into the night was too disruptive to home life with their new families. They talked about starting a new store on 48th Street for woodwinds and strings, but nothing really came of it. Big band road tours called both Sam and Benny away for months at a time while Charlie, at home in New York playing at Radio City, kept thinking about their plans for a store.
Not very long after, Charlie rented a room on West 48th Street from Linx and Long, another venerable woodwind music store, and started selling whatever instruments he could buy and fix up. Since half the musicians in New York knew and loved him, his shop quickly became the in place for premier players to hang out. Hordes of younger musicians who emulated those players followed soon after. Among those younger players were some of the giants of today. One story that I've heard a dozen people repeat (including the player himself) concerns a then-young musician who was trying to break into the music scene on clarinet but wanted to double on oboe and had no money to buy one. He was casually talking about this with Charlie, expecting only a sympathetic ear. What he got was a brand new Ponte brand oboe which Charlie has just completed and gave him on the spot. "When you make your first money with this oboe", he was told, "then you think about paying for it, till then - practice." The player was Phil Bodner. They became life-long friends and Phil is one of the finest doublers ever to play in New York. Look for his credits everywhere from Sinatra to Steely Dan including notable jazz gigs with Benny Goodman (1955), the Gil Evans Orchestra with Miles Davis (1958), Oliver Nelson (1962), J.J. Johnson (1965-68) and Bill Evans (1974).
To keep up with the growing demand, Charlie started buying new instruments to sell, then accessories, then double reed equipment, strings, guitars, tubas - anything and everything musical. His shop expanded tremendously and virtually exploded out of Linx and Long. In 1947, he rented his own store on West 48th Street with an internally lit "Charles Ponte Music Company" sign proudly swinging outside. Inside was growing the largest and strangest conglomeration of musical instrument supplies and parts that has perhaps ever existed in one place. Benny and Sam stayed on the road for a few more years, but as the big bands began to die out they joined up with Charlie and once again, the three of them were working together. The store name stayed Ponte's, but they were a team. Growth was exponential and the store gained an international reputation as touring musicians from all around the world stopped by during their New York performances. They brought word back to their colleagues of this wonderful "musicians candy shop", run by and for musicians. Few knew that during this time, billionaire Paul Mellon invited Charlie to help him develop music schools in Haiti. They worked together for years and Charlie donated thousands of dollars of musical instruments and a lot of his time to this project. They remained lifelong friends.
Through the 50's and 60's, as development began to infringe on the now long gone Tin Pan Alley, jazz's famed 57th Street and the Music Row of 48th Street, Charlie held fast, growing his business in the same store front which he now owned. Finally, with parking garages and office towers going up on all sides of their turn-of-the-century brownstones, most of the stores were forced to relocate. Some closed their doors forever. Among them, the venerated and still missed Linx and Long. Charles Ponte Music Company relocated to West 46th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues where a few of the other long-time shops had moved, including Giardinellis. Here, Charlie, Benny and Sam continued to prosper and fill their store with friends.
Charlie retired in 1984, dispersing much of his inventory. The entire double reed department was passed to Brian Charles who began Charles Double Reed Company from this transfer. All other materials were sold or given on a piecemeal basis.
