R.I.P. New Orleans R&B’s Cosimo Matassa

The man who engineered all those great Little Richard, Fats Domino, Huey Piano Smith. Lloyd Price, Frankie Ford, Allen Toussaint, Ernie K-Doe, Chris Kenner, Barbara George, Benny Spellman, Dave Bartholomew, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, Earl Palmer, Red Tyler, Lee Allen, Professor Longhair and Jessie Hill’s 50’s and early 60’s New Orleans R&B classics is gone.

From his original J&M Music Shop at 838 North Rampart Street, New Orleans (sign remains etched in marble on the corner of Rampart and Dumaine), Cosimo’s little recording studio was home base for the greatest New Orleans R&B ever made. My R&B Juke Box top 100 includes nine 45s recorded at J&M, including my #1 pick—Jessie Hill’s “Ooh Poo Pah Doo,” and #5 pick—Little Richard’s “Lucille.”