Attending NAMM 2026

Community News, Entertainment — By Anthony Chauncey on January 28, 2026 at 7:13 pm

By Anthony Chaunchy

I had been to NAMM twice, in 2015 and 2017. I enjoyed seeing George Clinton’s sound check, in 2015, hearing and seeing how he had full control of the band. But this time was super special and I’m about to tell you why.

I am proud to be a Contributor and guest writer for The Scoop LA, formerly The Scoop Newspaper, a publication I had been reading since 1985. I was happy to do coverage of this iconic event. What caught me by surprise was the unique and talented musicians I met there, all important and vital people in my musical journey. Let me explain.

I met my longtime friend for this event, Buddy Sampson, the Publisher of The Scoop who has played on several of my tracks as a bass player and collaborated on writing several tracks with me. On the outside of the huge Yamaha stage where Clinton was in 2015, I happened to catch Greg Phillinganes doing his sound check this time.

I did a cover of one Greg’s songs 40 years ago. I sang and played saxophone on the track, something we both talked about and laughed about later that evening.  I complimented him on co-writing with Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton. I thought to myself, “that a real good brother there.” He seemed so happy to hear me acknowledging that. It was a touching moment between us.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to NAMM this year was to see my good friend Marco Mendoza.  We hadn’t seen each other in 25 years, since he was playing with the mega rock band Thin Lizzy in London.  I was visiting London and he remembered me and so I got to hang out with him and Thin Lizzy, one of my favorite groups. So, in the words of one of their biggest hits “The Boys Are Back in Town, “I was lucky enough to run into him, which is very difficult in a large venue like NAMM.    “Man, that was a long time ago back when we were teenagers,” he said. Marco has fared well since then. In addition to his own albums, he’s played with the legendary bands Journey and Whitesnake among others. I ran into him again just in time, only to find out that he was going to perform for the NAMM All Star Jam.

I got back to Greg just in time to see him with Cory Henry.  Cory, who performed with Snarky Puppy as a great keyboardist, has since went on his own, performing with the likes of Jacob Collier, doing a remake of my friend, the late Sly Stone’s song, “If You Want Me to Stay” and the Bee Gees mega hit “Staying Alive.”  Meeting him was special. I covered his version of “Staying Alive” on one of my tracks.

And then seeing Stevie Wonder at NAMM.  Running into Mr. Wonder was another surprise for me. He was surrounded by a throng of people, which made it extremely difficult to talk to him.  I worked with Stevie Wonder when I worked for Motown. So, seeing Stevie was another pleasant surprise but I really felt bad for him with all the people surrounding him and clamoring for his attention.  The man could hardly walk two steps without someone approaching him, so I was not going to be another person to approach him, as gracious as he was with everybody. Eventually, Stevie performed with Greg Phillinganes on the Yamaha Stage that also featured the great group The War and Treaty.

 

So yes, NAMM is a great place to see all the new musical instruments and technology, and to see so many fantastic performances as well.  But for me, it was a place to run into talented people who were part of my musical journey. I am so happy I was able to capture so much of it for The Scoop LA.

All photos by Anthony Chaunchy.

Anthony Chaunchy is a songwriter, filmmaker and DJ, who formerly worked for Motown Records and has several films, including his UCLA archived film, “Mini Marvin.” View his videos on YouTube under Anthony Chaunchy. His Instagram is songwritr2003, and e-mail him at songwritr2003@yahoo.com.