Cosimo Matassa is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

-American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 recording engineer and studio

Studio

A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...

 owner responsible for many R&B and early rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 recording

Recording

Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....

s.

At the age of 18, Matassa opened the J&M Recording Studio at the back of his family’s shop on Rampart Street

Rampart Street

Rampart Street is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana.The upper end of the street is in the New Orleans Central Business District...

 in the French Quarter

French Quarter

The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...

 of New Orleans in 1945. In 1955, he moved to the larger Cosimo Recording Studio.

As an engineer and proprietor, he was crucial to the development of the R&B, rock and soul sound of the 1950s and '60s (often working with producers Dave Bartholomew

Dave Bartholomew

Dave Bartholomew is a musician, band leader, composer and arranger, prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century...

 and Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

), and recorded many hits - including Fats Domino

Fats Domino

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

’s "The Fat Man

The Fat Man (song)

"The Fat Man" is a rhythm and blues song co-written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and recorded by Fats Domino. It is considered to be one of the first rock and roll records.-History:...

" (a contender for the first rock and roll record), Little Richard

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

's "Tutti Frutti

Tutti Frutti (song)

"Tutti Frutti" is a 1955 song by Little Richard, which became his first hit record. With its opening cry of "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bop-bop!" and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also one of the...

", and records by Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, Lee Dorsey

Lee Dorsey

Lee Dorsey was an African American pop/R&B singer during the 1960s. Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint with instrumental backing provided by the Meters.-Career:...

, Dr John, Smiley Lewis

Smiley Lewis

Smiley Lewis was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues musician. The journalist, Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans...

, Bobby Mitchell

Bobby Mitchell (singer)

Bobby Mitchell was a New Orleans Rhythm & Blues singer and songwriter.Mitchell was born in the Algiers section of New Orleans. He was a popular recording artist in the 1950s and early 1960s, making records for Imperial Records, Show Biz Records and Rip Records...

, Tommy Ridgley

Tommy Ridgley

Tommy Ridgley was an American R&B singer and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Biography:Born Thomas Herman Ridgley, he released his debut single "Shrewsbury Blues" in New Orleans in 1949The success of Shrewsbury Blues lead to Ridgley being billed as the 'Shrewsbury Kid' for a number of years...

, the Spiders

The Spiders (band)

The Spiders were an R&B vocal group from New Orleans, who achieved their greatest fame in the 1950s.The group was founded as a gospel group in 1947 under the name Zion City Harmonizers, and later sang as the Delta Southernaires, recording and performing on radio under the latter name in 1952-53...

 and many others. He was responsible for developing what became known as the "New Orleans Sound", with strong drums, heavy guitar and bass, light piano, light horn sound and a strong vocal lead.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Matassa also managed the successful white New Orleans rock and roll performer Jimmy Clanton

Jimmy Clanton

Jimmy Clanton is an American singer who became known as the "swamp pop R&B teenage idol". His band recorded a hit song "Just A Dream" which Clanton had written in 1958 for the Ace Records label. It reached number four on the Billboard chart and sold a million copies...

.

He retired from the music business in the 1980s to manage the family's renowned food store Matassa's Market in the French Quarter.

In December 1999, J&M Recording Studio was designated as a historic landmark. In October 2007, Matassa was honored for his contributions to Louisiana music with induction into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame

Louisiana Music Hall of Fame

The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame is an IRS certified 501 non-profit organization based in the state capitol of Baton Rouge, La., that seeks to preserve Louisiana's rich music culture and heritage and to further educate its citizens and people worldwide about the state’s unique role contributing...

. On September 24, 2010, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum designated Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Recording Studio as a historic Rock and Roll Landmark, one of 11 nationwide.

External links

• [ Biography on Allmusic]
• Gambit Weekly: For the Record by Frank Etheridge, Aug. 22, 2006