The Matrix, a renovated former pizza shop, was a nightclub in San Francisco from 1965 to 1972 and was one of the keys to what eventually became known as the "San Francisco Sound" in rock music. Located at 3138 Fillmore Street, The Matrix opened August 13, 1965 showcasing Jefferson Airplane, which singer Marty Balin had put together as the club's "house band." Marty had persuaded three limited partners to put up $3,000 apiece to finance the opening of The Matrix, giving them 75% ownership, while he retained 25% for creating and managing it.
Jefferson Airplane rose rapidly to local prominence during late 1965 and early 1966 with their performances at the Matrix, and it was there that they were first seen by noted music critic Ralph J. Gleason, who became an early champion of the group. The photograph of the members of Jefferson Airplane that was featured on the front cover of their best-known album, Surrealistic Pillow (1967), was taken inside the Matrix.
In the early years of The Matrix, there was a huge mural of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on the left wall near the rear; rumor was that the members of Jefferson Airplane painted it before the club first opened (appropriate, since these four horsemen all carried musical instruments). The mood the mural conveyed was sort of in keeping with the very subdued lighting everywhere in the club other than the small stage.
The entrance was recessed about two feet and was left of center on the windowless wall seen from the street, but there was a movie-poster-like cabinet outside to the door's right, where upcoming bands were listed and handbills were posted. Inside, near the entrance, there was a bar (beer and wine license only) on the front left. The interior was about 40 feet by 80 feet. The front third of the club had about a 10-foot-high ceiling, but farther back, it went up to about 20 feet. The right front area had chairs and most of the cocktail tables, while the center to rear of the room was a dance floor. The stage was a step above the floor on the right side, center to rear. A small sound booth occupied the center of the left wall, and a few cocktail tables were at the left rear in front of the mural. The rear wall had a window opening for the small galley used to prepare bar food and other snacks.
Sometime in 1966 or 1967, Marty Balin sold his share of the club to Peter Abram and Gary Jackson, two of the original partners. Peter actively managed the club room and did bookings while also recording any musicians who were well-known or that he enjoyed or who were recommended to him. Gary took care of accounting and general business matters. For a brief period towards the end of 1966 Bill Ehlert, better known as The Jolly Blue Giant or simply Jolly, owner of the Jabberwock in Berkeley took over running the Matrix for a couple of months. This saw a distinct change to the booking policy where Jabberwock favorites Country Joe and the Fish, the New Age, and Blackburn & Snow would perform at the Matrix. Another change was seen in the advertising of shows, where Jabberwock house artist Tom Weller would provide some great posters and handbills.
In 1968, after finally getting all the necessary releases, The Matrix's owners sold to Columbia Records some tapes of live sets from 1966 by The Great Society (the band Grace Slick belonged to before replacing Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane). Edits of those tapes (including the first commercial recordings of "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love") eventually became two LP's, Conspicuous Only in Its Absence and How It Was (promoted as by "Grace Slick & The Great Society"). Over 20 years later (1989–1990), identical combinations of the two LP's were re-released under different names as CD's by two different labels, possibly due to separate licensing agreements in the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom.
The text content above is mostly taken from an article on the English Wikipedia site. It has been edited, often to the point of being quite different from the wiki article. When the text is substantialy original, the wiki article will be listed as a source and this notice will become a copyright notice. To maintain compatibility with the original, until copyright is declared it is released under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. The original wiki article is located here.