"they were just neighbors": cosimo mastassa and the new orleans sound
TRANSCRIPT
“They Were Just Neighbors”Cosimo Matassa and the New Orleans Sound
GEORGE DE STEFANO
“ITALIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY POLITICS”/ IASA
OCTOBER 3-5, 2013
Rock and Roll Hall of FameCosimo Matassa was inducted in 2012 at 86 and presented with the Award for Musical Excellence
Dave Bartholomew
The trumpeter, bandleader and arranger was Matassa’s closest collaborator and best friend
Allen Toussaint
“We all came through Cosimo”
Earl PalmerThe Tremé-born drummer, who invented rock’s straight-eighth backbeat, said, “I think Cosimo was a genius”
“We were integrated – we just didn’t know it”
Cosimo Matassa on growing up in the French Quarter
St. Joseph’s Day
African Americans and Italian Americans lived “cheek by jowl” in Matassa’s neighborhood and shared cultural traditions
Louis PrimaLike New Orleans’ native son Prima, Cosimo Matassa was born in the French Quarter to immigrants from Sicily
French Quarter, 1930s
“I came up as a small child during the Depression…”
-- Cosimo Matassa
Louis Armstrong
When Cosimo Matassa was a boy, he heard Armstrong and other great jazz and blues artists on the jukebox in his father’s saloon
Cosimo at the Controls
A small backroom at the J&M Music Shop became Matassa’s first studio
Joseph “Sharkey” Bonano
Bonano’s “Pizza Pie Boogie” was one of Matassa’s first recordings
Making History
In December 1949, Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew recorded “The Fat Man” in Matassa’s studio
“A Wop Bop a Loo Bop A Wop Bam Boom!”
Little Richard recorded “Tutti Frutti” and other hits at Matassa’s studio
“I’m a lonely boy…I ain’t got a home”Clarence “Frogman” Henry
The Cosimo Matassa Story, Vol. 1In 2007, Proper Records released a 4-disk boxed set comprising 120 recordings made at Matassa’s studios
Matassa’s Market
Today Cosimo’s sons run the family grocery store in the French Quarter
“The New Orleans Sound”
Matassa’s first studio was designated a historic landmark in 1999
Cosimo Matassa: American pop music wouldn’t be the same without him