Cosimo Matassa

Cosimo Vincent Matassa (April 13, 1926 – September 11, 2014) was an American recording engineer and studio owner, responsible for many R&B and early rock and roll recordings.

Life and career Matassa was born in New Orleans in 1926. In 1944 he began studies as a chemistry major at Tulane University, which he abandoned after completing five semesters of course work. In 1945, at the age of 18, Matassa opened the J&M Recording Studio at the back of his family's shop on Rampart Street, on the border of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Nola Records, New Orleans-based record label, was having constant distribution problems. In 1965, he founded his national distribution company, Dover Records. His goal was to act as the distributor of numerous local and regional record labels in order to provide a way for the music of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to be heard by a wider audience. In an effort to create a "one-stop shop," by 1967, Matassa relocated Cosimo Recording Studios from Gov. Nichols Street to what is now known as Jazz City Studio on Camp Street, now occupied by the New Orleans Zen Temple. This building also served as the head office of Superior Plastics, Matassa's vinyl record-pressing plant. His production company became the home of producers like Wardell Quezergue and Eddie Bo.

Matassa is interviewed on screen in the 2005 documentary film Make It Funky!, which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk and jazz.

Matassa retired from the music business in the 1980s to manage the family's food store, Matassa's Market, in the French Quarter. He died on September 11, 2014, aged 88, in New Orleans.

Awards and honors In December 1999, J&M Recording Studio was designated as a historic landmark.

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

In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland as a nonperformer. He was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.