The year was 1958. The electronics industry was looking for a way to entice consumers into buying their newest gadget, a stereo phonograph. Stereo was much better than the old monaural systems at reproducing live recorded sound, but how would they be able to prove it to the public?

Enter Dick Schory. 

In 1957 Schory had already recorded a stereo album titled Re-Percussion which featured a percussion ensemble made up of a few of his friends from Northwestern University and professional musicians from the Chicago area including such luminaries as Bobby Christian, Tom Davis, Frank Rullo, and Willis Charkovsky. RCA asked Schory to produce a second stereo recording — Music for Bang, Baaroom, and Harp (1958). The percussive nature of that recording made an effective demonstration for stereo. It also ignited a national craze for percussion recordings. Schory’s album would be copied countless times but never equaled. 

Music for Bang, Baaroom, and Harp became the first “hit” stereo LP record. Schory put together a touring ensemble known as “Dick Schory and the Percussion Pops Orchestra.” The PPO toured for thirteen years and made fifteen recordings, including the popular “Stereo Action” recordings and Live from Carnegie Hall, which was nominated for a Grammy. 

Schory’s years of touring with the PPO gave wide exposure to that uniquely American musical art form, the percussion ensemble, effectively introducing “the masses” to percussion. William F. Ludwig Jr. (Ludwig Drum Company) credited Dick Schory with “putting percussion ensembles on the map.”