2114 Cherokee St... | St. Louis, MO 63118 | 314-664-1234 | info@saxquest.com
Repair Shop Bios
George Bunk
Master repair technician, George Bunk has logged over 35 years at the bench. George has a machinist's mind and has been the go-to saxophone repair tech in the St. Louis area since the early 1990's. George apprenticed under Steve Williams and Blaise Buchanan in the early 1980's at Midwest Music Repair. He then refined his craft in brass and woodwind repair at McMurry Music in St. Louis where he served as shop manager over the course of the next 20 years. Saxquest was very fortunate to bring George onboard in 2008.George graduated in 1976 as a music performance major from UNLV where he studied saxophone under Ralph Gari. George is a multi-reed instrumentalist performing regularly on clarinet and flute as well as saxophone. Performance credits include a stint with the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra as well as traveling the United States with territory bands such as the Don Glasser Big Band and the George Doehner Big Band. George has been a member of the sax section of the Original Nights of Swing since 1986, St. Louis's oldest continuously running big band. He currently plays weekly with this group throughout the St. Louis area.
Ben Reece
Ben Reece has been playing saxophone professionally for over 15 years. He earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree in jazz performance from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville where he studied under Jason Swagler. In 2007 he began his apprenticeship in instrument repair under the tutelage of St Louis's Chris Funck. Ben is always studying and constantly pushes himself to learn more both as a repair tech and as a player. Ben is Straubinger certified and does many of the high end professional flute restorations and repairs in our repair shop. Ben can be heard regularly with the Jazz St. Louis Big Band, the Phil Dunlap Quintet and the Saxquest Nonet Jazz Orchestra. He's also a member of the Todd Mosby Group, one of St. Louis's finest innovative and contemporary instrumental groups, where he can be heard playing various woodwinds. He lives on the south side of St. Louis with his wife and two children and their dog, Marley.
Audrey Denny
Audrey Denny is an active clarinet educator, technician and player in St. Louis, Missouri. She currently works as a clarinet specialist at Saxquest and Clarinetquest where she repairs and sets up all clarinets that come through the shop. Audrey is also on faculty at the Community Music School through Webster University where she has an active studio of beginning to high school students. Before her tenure here, Audrey apprenticed at Backun Musical Services under the direction of Morrie Backun and Elaine Ward and also worked as a clarinet tester and instrument technician for Conn-Selmer, Inc/Leblanc Division. In 2015 Audrey became a Vandoren Regional Artist which has her presenting clinics and master classes in St. Louis area middle and high schools. Audrey has performed with the Air Force Band of Mid-America, the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, and other local orchestras in St. Louis. Audrey earned a Bachelor's of Music Degree from DePaul University where she studied under Julie DeRoche, Larry Combs and John Bruce Yeh. For several years Audrey worked as a free-lance musician in Chicago performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach and Cliff Colnot, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. Audrey was also a member of the Barossa Woodwind Quintet and taught adjunct at DePaul University. Her many performance credits also include stints with the orchestras of Elgin, Kalamazoo, Kenosha, Northbrook, and South Bend, the Illinois Philharmonic, The Highland Park Opera Theater, Concertante di Chicago, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Josh Creekmore
Josh Creekmore came to Saxquest in 2014, and we've been delighted to have his talents. He began apprenticing band instrument repair in early 2013 with Rodger Enloe at Shoals Band Instrument Repair in Florence, Alabama. After completing his Bachelor's degree in Commercial Music at the University of North Alabama in 2013, Josh moved to St. Louis in 2014 to pursue a career in instrument repair. Bringing with him a passion for the restoration and preservation of vintage instruments, Josh apprenticed in the Saxquest repair shop, eagerly soaking up the wisdom of George Bunk and Chris Funck, as well as constantly researching the repair techniques of other technicians around the world. After a couple years, Josh quickly advanced to taking on some of the more difficult bari and bass sax restorations, and continues to hone in his craft. Over the years, Josh has made himself our oboe repair expert, and delights in doing any kind of custom repairs. If you want to do anything from build keys, drill new tone holes, or custom restore your sax in shiny new silver plate, Josh is your man!
Aaron Standing
Aaron has always had a passion for making music. His music career began at the tender age of 6, upon visiting a music store with his mom, Aaron surprised everyone in the store by demonstrating his ability to play by ear with no prior music lessons! He was promptly enrolled in piano lessons, and later joined the school band. He played clarinet from 5th through 8th grade, switched to alto sax as a high school freshman, and eventually ended up on bari sax. Upon graduating, he won a music scholarship, which was used to attend Iowa Technical College in Sioux City, Iowa from 2006-2007. In 2007 Aaron began working in instrument repair in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas; first at Starkey Music, later at Senseney Music. When he moved to St. Louis in 2021 he joined the Saxquest repair shop, where he truly enjoys repairing and restoring the various vintage and modern instruments brought in. He still enjoys making music as well, when given a chance.