Various Artists - Cosimo Matassa Story

A quarter of a century after quitting the music business, and 50 or more years after he was placing New Orleans on the musical map, Cosimo Matassa is due to be awarded a Grammy Trustees Award. The 80 year old grocer was once the engineer and proprietor of J&M studios on Rampart Street , that between 1945 and 1956 saw the development of R&B, Rock 'n' Roll and Soul. It was there that Fats Domino, Little Richard and a host of other stars recorded their hits with some of the best session men around including drummer Earl Palmer, pianists Huey Smith and Melvin Dowden, saxmen Lee Allen and Alvin 'Red' Tyler, and bassist Frank Field. They collectively established New Orleans as one of the premier recording venues in the USA. Only recently Little Richard's Tutti Frutti attained number one status in the Mojo '100 records that changed the world' article, of course recorded at J&M.