When lawyer-turned-producer of jazz recordings and events Matthew Domber succumbed to cancer in 2012, his partner and wife Rachel needed to take pause and go through the difficult and emotional process of determining whether to continue operating the independent record company that had consumed their lives for the previous 23 years.
The Dombers founded Arbors Records in 1989 to record and preserve the classic styles of jazz. The label embraces traditional and contemporary classic jazz and the swing styles of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and beyond. But they were quick to point out that regardless of styles, all of their recordings have a common love of melody, improvisation, and swing.
Rachel says that before she met Mat, her preferred style of music was country-western, and that the only names she knew in the jazz world were Dave Brubeck and Stan Getz. Mat’s love affair with jazz had its genesis as a teenager when his father took him to some of New York City’s famed jazz clubs in Greenwich Village to hear the likes of Pee Wee Russell, Muggsy Spanier, and Eddie Condon. He was a fraternity brother of pianist Dick Hyman at Columbia University, where Mat earned his law degree.
Rick Fay 1st Recording
Rachel was an economist working for the Government when Mat made an appointment to see her to discuss low-income housing in Pennsylvania. During their courtship, which led to a 42-ye
