Cosimo Matassa
Cosimo Matassa ( born April 13, 1926 in New Orleans ) is an American recording studio owner and sound engineer of Italian descent and for many classic early rhythm and blues and rock & roll recordings was responsible. Almost every R & B recording from New Orleans between the late 1940s and 1970s, came from one of the four recording studios of Matassa. Matassa was responsible for 21 gold records and about 250 in the charts.
Career
Matassa opened in 1945 with a partner, J & M Recording Studio on the back of a retail shop of his parents at 838 North Rampart Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It started with a recording technique in which the Studio recording was pressed directly on the master plate. Roy Brown's Jump Blues Good Rockin 'Tonight, recorded in July 1947 with Bob Ogden 's Orchestra, successful gecovert later by Elvis Presley, was such a " direct-to- disc" recording, which was $ 15 per hour of recording. It is regarded as one of the first rock ' n' roll shots at all. Also, Professor Longhair, a typical representative of the music scene from New Orleans took on here.
The commercial breakthrough for the studios came on 10 December 1949, when his first single, Fats Domino The Fat Man recorded here with the famous boogie piano intro. The song came in February 1950 in the charts, reaching the R & B charts in second place and is one of the first million-seller of R & B. All Domino songs came here below, as well as Is not That a Shame, published on 14 April 1955 which was the first of a total of 37 crossovers of Domino, so got into the pop charts.
The most important producers in the studio were Dave Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint and Robert Blackwell. On a single-channel Ampex tape recorder (Model 600) were from 1949, along with the studio band, unknown artists such as Ray Charles, Lee Dorsey, Dr. John Lloyd Price and Guitar Slim stars. Lloyd Price took here on March 13, 1952 Lawdy Miss Clawdy on, Guitar Slim be on October 27, 1953 The Things That I Used to Do ( with Ray Charles on piano ), another million seller, who to the number one R & B charts penetrated. The hardly varied sound from the studio later became known as " New Orleans Sound" known, with a strong beat, accentuated guitar and bass runs, almost always boogie piano, light wind sections and a dominant lead voice of the artist, and almost always the same session musicians Charles " Hungry" Williams / Earl Palmer (drums ), Frank Fields ( bass), Ernest McLean (guitar), Salvador Doucette / Edward Franks ( piano ), Lee Allen / Alvin Tyler (saxophone). In small studio had to find space 17 musicians. "I always wanted to capture the dynamics of a live performance ," Matassa founded the sound. Mardi Gras atmosphere also spreads the song Jock -A -Mo, who was taken by James Crawford & His Cane Cutters Sugarboy here in November 1953. Only the Dixie Cups brought the piece as Iko Iko in April 1965 in the charts (# 20 pop charts ).
In January 1956, the company moved into the larger Cosimo Recording Studio in the 523 Governor Nicholls Street demand-driven with a three-track tape. Meanwhile, used all major independent labels such as Imperial Records, Chess, Aladdin, Atlantic, Specialty or Ace increasing its studios. Thus arose for Ace Records in July 1958 Jimmy Clanton Just a Dream with Mac Rebennack on guitar and Allen Toussaint on piano in Matassas Studio ( $ 25 studio costs ), soared to U.S. Pop # 4 up and sold nearly 2 million times. It was the top-selling disc of the label.
The Wildest recording sessions took place in the studio on 13 and 14 September 1955 Specialty Records instead that brought their new rock ' n' roll artist Little Richard to the studio. Under the studio producer Bumps Blackwell Richard took here on both days 12 songs, from which Tutti Frutti was chosen as the first single. It was only the next but Richard session was booked for the J & M Studios on 10 February 1956.
In December 1959, in New Orleans with Minit Records launched another label, which cooperated for a few shots with the J & M Studios. Jesse Hill ( Ooh Poo Pah Do), Ernie K- Doe ( Mother- in-Law: # 1 pop charts, A Certain Girl) and Chris Kenner ( I Like It Like That # 2 pop charts for the sister label Instant Records) were included here.
Decline
The music business in New Orleans seemed solid and to be unbeatable until the Beatles came up with the British Invasion. In 1964, the music business was in New Orleans just before the disaster. Matassa could penetrate with his undercapitalized Studio yet until 1967. He took in June 1970, the album Struttin ' for the funk band meter on, but shortly thereafter, the studio was confiscated because of overdue tax liabilities by the tax authorities and foreclosed the property.
In December 1999, the J & M Recording Studios were registered as " Historic landmark ". In October 2007, Cosimo Matassa was taken because of his contributions to the music of Louisiana in the "Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame ".