About Us
Matthew Domber, Founding Father, (1928 – 2012)
Arbors Records was founded by Rachel and Mat Domber in 1989 to record and preserve the classic styles of jazz. It originated because of their desire to record their friend, the outstanding reedman, singer and composer, Rick Fay, who had been in the music business for over 40 years mostly as a performer at the Disney parks in California and Florida, but had never previously recorded.
Although Mat Domber was a lawyer with an office in New York and real estate interests in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida, he had been a jazz fan, record collector and listener, beginning with his visits to Nick’s in Greenwich Village as a pre-teen, almost all of his life.
Since the release of their first recording, Rick Fay’s Hot Five: Live at Lone Pine, in 1990, Arbors Records issued almost 450 CDs, featuring such jazz artists as Ruby Braff, Dick Hyman, Kenny Davern, Bob Wilber, Harry Allen, Dan Barrett, Bob Haggart, Dave Frishberg, Rebecca Kilgore, Johnny Varro, Warren Vache, George Masso, Bucky Pizzarelli, Bobby Gordon, Jackie Coon, Nicki Parrott, Ed Metz, Adrian Cunningham, Diego Figueiredo and Jon-Erik Kellso to name only a few.
New recording projects are still in production.
The catalog and the list of artists describes fully the recordings available.
Arbors Records was also the producer of the acclaimed March of Jazz weekend jazz parties, held in Florida the third weekend in March. The first party in 1994 celebrated Bob Haggart’s 80th birthday, the second in 1995 celebrated the 80th birthday of Flip Phillips. The 1996 party celebrated the March birthdays of Bob Haggart, Dick Hyman, Flip Phillips, Red Norvo and Bob Wilber and the 80th birthday of Joe Bushkin and in 1997 all of their birthdays were again celebrated, as well as the 85th birthday of Jerry Jerome. All of the March birthday celebrants and Jerry Jerome were back for the 1998 March of Jazz which was an International event featuring 13 musicians from Europe performing with 31 all-stars from the U.S. The special honoree was Benny Waters, who at 96 was the world’s oldest regularly performing jazz musician. At the March of Jazz 2000 which was held at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort on March 17-19, 2000; 48 musicians performed to honor the 85th birthday of Flip Phillips. In 2001, the March of Jazz honored the 74th birthday of Ruby Braff and in 2002, the honorees were John Bunch and Joe Wilder. Tributes were also given to Ralph Sutton and Jerry Jerome who sadly passed away during the year before their birthday celebration could be held. In 2003 the March of Jazz celebrated the 77th birthday of Bucky Pizzarelli and the 83rd birthday of Jack Lesberg. The parties continued on until 2012.
Arbors Records is also a sponsor of the Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Classic, in Clearwater Beach, Florida. In addition, Rachel Domber is the President of the Statesmen of Jazz, a touring ensemble group of senior musicians who performed around the world. The Statesmen have recorded 2 CDs produced by Arbors Records, featuring such legendary performers as Clark Terry, Joe Wilder, Al Grey, Buddy Tate, Benny Waters, Fiddler Williams, Jane Jarvis, Milt Hinton, and Panama Francis. All remaining funds are now going to non-profit organizations who promote the continuation of jazz.
Starting with the original dixieland recordings by various Rick Fay groups, the label now embraces traditional jazz and contemporary classic jazz and the swing styles of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and beyond. But regardless of style, all of the recordings have in common a love of melody, improvisation and swing.
MUSIC VIDEO DISTRIBUTORS (MVD) is its exclusive distributor in the United States, Canada and Mexico and other distributors are located in Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Japan.