In Kansas City’s historic Jazz District, Mike Corrigan has built a national reputation for crafting professional-quality instruments. Fondly known as the “Horn Doctor” to many local musicians, Corrigan’s enterprise B.A.C. Musical Instruments (short for Best American Craftsmen) manufactures custom trombones, trumpets and more.
Among his loyal clientele? Trombone Shorty, members of Jazz at Lincoln Center and touring artists that back up pop stars like Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and John Legend.
According to Corrigan, his craft is becoming a rather rare and steadily shrinking trade. “At one point, the United States produced more instruments than any country in the world,” he says. However, many major American instrument makers were acquired by larger conglomerates in the 1970s. Margins quickly began to overtake artistry, and longevity became an afterthought.
That’s not how Corrigan operates. “Many manufacturers would rather sell another instrument than have it repaired,” he says. “That wasn’t a musician who made that decision.”
Originally from Maryland, Corrigan was always drawn to an instrument’s mechanics, though it never occurred to him it could be a career. But when his high school band director noticed him tinkering with his French horn, he was encouraged to check out an instrument repair school in Minnesota. Corrigan obliged. “As soon as I walked in the room, I knew that was definitely it,” he says.
After completing the one-year program, he returned to the East Coast to apprentice with a trombone maker in Boston. At 21, still new to the city and his craft, layoffs hit. Although Corrigan kept his job, his hours were drastically reduced. His boss encouraged him to utilize the shop’s tools to make repairs on the side.
A couple years later, in 2004, Corrigan decided to strike out on his own full time. He moved his budding business to the KC area, initially operating out of the basement of his Overland Park home.
Today, Corrigan’s business has grown to a team of about 20, handcrafting over a hundred instruments each year. In addition to professional horns, the company also distributes more than 2,000 student model instruments (under an imported line) and works directly with school programs. B.A.C also supplies equipment to HBCU marching bands nationwide, including Missouri’s own Lincoln University, and Corrigan hopes to partner with Kansas City Public Schools in the future.
Aside from B.A.C.’s KC workshop, the company has longstanding connections to New Orleans. “When Katrina hit, I thought, ‘Man what’s going to happen to the musicians of this community?’” Corrigan says. “I didn’t have any money to donate, but I had a skill that might be appreciated.”
About a year and half after the catastrophic storm, Corrigan headed south with his repair kit and set up mobile work stations throughout the city. He soon learned that there wasn’t a single instrument repair shop within New Orleans city limits. “I thought it would be a one-time situation, but the community really needed it,” Corrigan says. “There are so many people who make their livelihood busking on the street.”
Those relationships stuck. For the next eight years, Corrigan returned a couple times annually to maintain instruments for working musicians. Today, B.A.C. partners with Roots of Music, a nonprofit in NOLA stewarding the next generation of musicians. Transporting students from around the city to an after-school program offering hot meals, tutoring and band class, the program now sends musicians to the same repair school Corrigan attended.
Now, Corrigan and Roots of Music CEO Derrick Tabb have hopes of bringing a similar program to KC. While they’re still ideating in the early stages, Corrigan’s optimistic about the future.
“Kansas City needs this,” he says. “We think now is the time.”
