Rocky Giglio: Band City’s “Music Man”

Elkhart, Indiana has long been the major center in the United States for the manufacture of band instruments. Over the past century, the city has been blessed with the right people at the right time to make this happen. One of the best examples of the “right people” would be Rocky Giglio, a clever, highly innovative businessman and a fine big band saxophonist. Currently the president and chief operating officer for jj Babbitt Company, Inc., and his seventeen years with the mouthpiece company are a strong reflection of his half century in Elkhart. When asked about coming there, he replied that he was playing a concert in Upstate New York when he was approached by a C. G. Conn representative who asked him if he was interested in working for the Company in Elkhart, Indiana. Rocky came to Elkhart, looked over the situation, and accepted the job. He adds “My goal was to be a studio musician, as it turned out I continued to be in the right place at the right time and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” My first acquaintance with Rocky occurred close to a half century ago when I caught him playing with the Jazz Assemblage Big Band. The band included several very fine players but Rocky stood out in the reed section. Since that first night, I discovered what a great jazz fan he was and when the jazz festival planning began in 1987, Rocky helped us identify possible talent for ou