Cosimo Matassa

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Cosimo Matassa (born April 13, 1926 in New Orleans , Louisiana ; † September 11, 2014 ibid) was an American recording studio operator and sound engineer of Italian descent and for many classic early rhythm and blues and rock 'n' -Roll- recordings responsible. Almost every New Orleans R&B recording between the late 1940s and 1970s came from one of Matassa's four recording studios. Matassa was jointly responsible for 21 gold records and around 250 chart placements.

Career

Roy Brown - Good Rocking Tonight

In 1945, Matassa and a partner opened the J&M Recording Studio on the back of his parents' retail store on 838 North Rampart Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It began with a recording technique in which the studio recording was pressed directly onto the master disc. Roy Brown's jump-blues Good Rockin 'Tonight , recorded in July 1947 with the Bob Ogden's Orchestra, later successfully covered by Elvis Presley , was such a "direct-to-disc" recording that cost $ 15 an hour of recording. It is considered one of the first rock 'n' roll recordings ever. Even Professor Longhair , a typical representative of the music scene from New Orleans, took on here.

The commercial breakthrough for the studios came on December 10, 1949, when Fats Domino recorded his first single The Fat Man with the famous boogie piano intro here. The song came in February 1950 in the charts, reached the R & B charts in second place and is considered one of the first million-seller of the R & B . All Domino songs were created here below, including Ain't That a Shame , published on April 14, 1955, which became the first of a total of 37 crossovers by Domino, so it hit the pop charts.

The main producers in the studio were Dave Bartholomew , Allen Toussaint and Robert Blackwell . On a single-channel Ampex tape (model 600) from 1949, together with the studio tape , unknown interpreters such as Ray Charles , Lee Dorsey , Dr. John , Lloyd Price or Guitar Slim to stars. Lloyd Price recorded Lawdy Miss Clawdy here on March 13, 1952 , and Guitar Slim recorded The Things That I Used to Do (with Ray Charles on piano) on October 27, 1953 , another million-seller that went to number one on the R&B charts advanced. The hardly varied sound from the studios later became known as "New Orleans Sound", with a strong beat, accentuated guitar and bass runs, almost always boogie piano, light brass sections and a dominant lead voice from the interpreter and almost always the same session musicians : Charles "Hungry" Williams / Earl Palmer (drums), Frank Fields (bass), Ernest McLean / Roy Montrell / Justin Adams / Edgar Blanchard (guitar), Salvador Doucette / Edward Franks (piano), Herb Hardesty / Lee Allen / Alvin Tyler (saxophone). The small studio had to accommodate up to 17 musicians. “I always wanted to capture the dynamics of a live performance,” Matassa explained the sound. The song Jock-A-Mo , which was recorded here in November 1953 by James Sugarboy Crawford & His Cane Cutters, also creates a Mardi Gras atmosphere . It was not until the Dixie Cups that the piece hit the charts as Iko Iko in April 1965 (# 20 pop charts).

In January 1956, due to demand, the company moved to the larger Cosimo Recording Studio at 523 Governor Nicholls Street with a three-track tape. In the meantime, all of the larger independent labels such as Imperial Records , Chess , Aladdin , Atlantic , Specialty or Ace are increasingly using his studios. In July 1958, Ace Records created Jimmy Clanton's Just a Dream with Mac Rebennack on guitar and Allen Toussaint on piano in Matassa's studio (for $ 25 studio cost), skyrocketed to US pop # 4 and sold almost 2 million copies. It was the label's top-selling record.

The wildest recording sessions took place in the studio on September 13-14, 1955 for Specialty Records, which brought their new rock 'n' roll performer Little Richard to the studio. Under the studio producer Bumps Blackwell Richard recorded 12 songs on both days, from which Tutti Frutti was selected as the first single. Only the Richard session after that was booked again for the J&M studios on February 10, 1956.

In December 1959, Minit Records started in New Orleans, another label that cooperated with the J & M studios for some recordings. Jesse Hill (Ooh Poo Pah Do) , Ernie K-Doe ( Mother-in-Law : # 1 Pop Charts; A Certain Girl ) or Chris Kenner ( I Like It Like That : # 2 Pop Charts for the sister label Instant Records) were recorded here.

Decline

The music business in New Orleans seemed solid and unbeatable until the Beatles came along with the British Invasion . In 1964, the New Orleans music business was on the verge of disaster. Matassa was able to get by with his undercapitalized studio until 1967. He recorded the album Struttin for the funk band Meters in June 1970 , but shortly afterwards the studio was confiscated by the tax authorities due to tax debts and the property was foreclosed.

In December 1999, the J&M Recording Studios was registered as a "Historic Landmark". In October 2007 Cosimo Matassa was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame for his contributions to the music of Louisiana.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary by Keith Spera, Nola.com
  2. ↑ Jeff Hannusch, "I hear you knockin '", 1987, p. 107
  3. ↑ Randy McNutt: Guitar Towns: A Journey to the Crossroads of Rock 'n' Roll . Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana 2002, ISBN 0-253-34058-6 , pp. 24 ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  4. ↑ J&M were the initials of his father John Matassa
  5. ^ Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
  6. ↑ Jim Cogan / William Clark: Temples of Sound - Inside The Great Recording Studios , 2003, p. 100 f.
  7. ↑ here the tape machine "Ampex 300" was used for the first time; see. Jim Cogan / William Clark: Temples of Sound - Inside The Great Recording Studios , 2003, p. 102
  8. ^ Charles White, "The Life and Times of Little Richard," 1985, p. 48
  9. ↑ Jeff Hannusch, "I hear you knockin '", 1987, p. 110
  10. ^ Charles White, "The Life And Times Of Little Richard," 1985, p. 228
personal data
SURNAME Matassa, Cosimo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sound engineer
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans , Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2014
Place of death New Orleans , Louisiana