#cosimo matassa

Elmore James and His Broomdusters - Blues Before Sunrise (1955) Leroy Carr from: "Blues Before Sunrise" / "Good Bye" (AKA "Goodbye Baby") "Blues After Hours" (LP) (1960)

Chicago Blues | Electric Blues | Slide Guitar | The Elmore James Riff

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Personnel: Elmore James: Vocals / Slide Guitar Edward Frank: Piano Frank Fields: Bass Earl Palmer: Drums

Engineered by Cosimo Matassa Produced by Joe Bihari

Recorded: @ J&M Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana USA August, 1955

Ponderosa Stomp Gala 2010

Domino’s rollicking piano, paired with a perpetually sunny voice that bore traces of his 9th Ward Creole patois, informed a long string of million-selling singles in the 1950s that facilitated rhythm and blues’ transition to rock and roll, including “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Walking to New Orleans,” “Blueberry Hill" and "Blue Monday." He ranked among the decade’s top-sellers and became an international star, touring the world tirelessly with a crack band.

Mr. Domino was born in New Orleans on February 26, 1928, to a family of modest means. His portly girth earned him the nickname “Fats.” As a young man, he became obsessed with the piano.

Visionary producer, songwriter, trumpeter and Imperial Records talent scout Dave Batholomew “discovered” Domino. Working at Cosimo Matassa's recording studio on North Rampart Street, Domino and Batholmew created a body of work unlike any other in the annals of New Orleans music. Together, they established New Orleans as a hotbed of rhythm & blues and early rock 'n' roll.

Domino supported those singles by touring relentlessly. His concerts often featured integrated audiences, a rarity for the time.

By the late 1960s, after the Beatles -- who were avowed Domino fans -- and other British Invasion bands changed the face of popular music, the hits were harder to come by. Domino continued to perform and tour.

Bijna iedere dag muziek: New Orleans, Fats Domino

Het is 1945. New Orleans is de plaats van handeling. Aan 840 Rampart Street staat de gereedschapwinkel van John Matassa. In de opslagruimte staan oude jukeboxen waarvan de platen verkocht worden door John. Als blijkt dat die platen populairder zijn dan het gereedschap, besluit John de boeg om te gooien: J&M Music Shop is geboren. Via vrienden krijgt John de hipste westcoast jazz aangeleverd, die…

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Record of the Day: Huey “Piano” Smith & His Clowns – Good Ole Rock ‘N Roll

OK, forget every other record I told you that you must buy (she wrote at 10pm on a Fat Tuesday, slurping her Sazerac at a perhaps alarming rate), this is one you must own forthwith: the Ace Records 1990 Huey Piano Smith compilation: Good Ole Rock ‘N Roll. It’s so good, in return, you’ll give up anything for Lent after listening to it, just to be able to hear these songs whenever you want. I…

Lately I’ve been admiring videos of live performances from the age of electric, but not necessarily electronic, instruments. Watching a young Barbara Lynn sing and play her 1962 hit, “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” reminds me of why I like live music best. Something interesting happens in real time because there’s a certain amount of risk involved. Like great athletes, staying in the zone is of the ultimate importance — and none were cooler than Ms. Lynn in this setting, soulfully singing a great song she wrote. Without a stitch of irony (a modern predilection that has spread far beyond the bounds of quality control), she opens her heart and lets loose.

It’s a confident song and she is a very confident women. She was a band leader, a real guitar player, not a model in an ad for Fender Telecasters. Her resemblance to that other lefty, Jimi Hendrix, is uncanny — she could be his sister. Around the time this video was made, in the early to mid-‘60s, they were both traveling the Chitlin’ Circuit, gritty clubs that kept all the great soul and blues acts on the road. This song had to have elevated her above that level, but it’s the hours in those clubs in Houston-Memphis-Atlanta-Chicago and countless other towns that put the polish on her show.

She uses an over-the-top-of-the-neck grip when she plays barre chords on her guitar. I was always taught that was bad technique, but lately I’ve been noticing all my favorite guitarists do it. It’s too late to train my stubby paws to do that trick, but now I wish I could. She plays with a thumb pick and bare fingers. Add her to the list of wonderful folk, blues and rock guitarists who play that way. One other bit of show biz I like is the way she strums up and down the neck. Was she first, or Johnny Cash? They both do it well and it is, frankly, a move that’s hard to do on an iPad.