Cooperstown - A Jazz Opera in Nine Innings

Sasha Matson, Cooperstown (Jazz Opera in Nine Innings). Albany Records. (2015, 2020 Revised Edition (CD and 24-88 FLAC) (HERE)

Baseball and jazz—two great American traditions here combined by composer Sasha Matson for an engaging musical experience. Add opera to the mix and you get some nice theater. Originally released in 2015 as a double CD of over 120 minutes, Sasha has revised the work in this new release to create a leaner, more impactful, performance in 80 minutes. In an email Sasha says, "I cut 25 minutes—imagine that! It was tough, but I feel it is a better tighter piece now," And, yes, the hard work paid off.

I first received this new version as a pre-release set of 16-44 files. I expected that I would listen more closely once the promised higher resolution 24-bit files were finished. But temptation drew me into just sampling a bit to see what the music was like—and I didn't stop until the recording had played all the way through 80 minutes later. Yes, the music was that engaging!

I've now had a chance to listen to the higher resolution files, and enjoyed the performance even more this second time through. My initial reaction holds. This release is a very enjoyable listening experience—a skillful blend of jazz and opera (perhaps Broadway theater is a more apt description). Excellent instrumental and vocal performances combined with very good sound quality.

The story is classic. A young, naïve, and talented pitcher newly raised to the majors. The lady love interest. The jealous, manipulative, old pro who is also the team's catcher and pitcher's purported ally. The story takes us quickly to 160 games played, with the final game to win the pennant.

The original release earned quite a few accolades, including recognition from both Stereophile (Recording of the Month, April 2015) and Fanfare. "Highly recommended to jazz and opera lovers alike," said Fanfare; "Well sung and inventively composed, this intriguing blend is a bracingly new mix of genres," said Stereophile. And I agree with both comments, with the further observation that this revised version is an even more enjoyable listen overall, due to the edits Sasha made to tighten the flow of the story.

The recording is a compilation from two separate recording sessions, a practice I usually dislike, but here the final result is satisfyingly coherent with Systems Two engineer Mike Marciano and producer John Atkinson working some remarkable magic in the final editing.

The sound quality for both the jazz band and the vocalists is excellent: full, forward, and detailed. Sasha wanted to recapture some of the sound of the original Blue Note recordings, and with some skillful choice of microphones by Mike Marciano I think his goal was accomplished quite well.

The Jazz band sessions were recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, New York, June 16–17, 2011, engineered by Mike Marciano, with composer Sasha Matson conducting, and the band arrayed around him in a rough semi-circle. (Jason Rigby, reeds; Russ Johnson, trumpets; Sean Wayland, keyboards; Rich Mollin, bass; Gernot Bernroider, drums)

Daniel Montenegro, tenor (pitcher Angel Corazon) and Julie Adams, soprano (love interest Lilly Young).

Carin Gilfry, mezzo-soprano (talent agent Jan Green), Rod Gilfry, baritone (team manager Dutch Schulhaus), and Daniel Favela, tenor (catcher Marvin Wilder).

The vocal sessions were recorded at Schnee Studio, Studio City, California, September 1–2, 2012, engineered by Bill Schnee and Kenton Fukuda.

John Atkinson writes in the liner notes, "For vocal recording, the attraction was Bill Schnee's collection of vintage tube microphones, and his use of the renowned Mastering Lab microphone preamplifiers. The sounds our 'canaries' would be making would be picked up with Neumann U87s, perhaps the finest vocal microphone extant."

John goes on to say, "The instruments and vocalists were recorded 'flat,' without equalization or reverberation, although there was some occasional peak limiting on the vocals. For the final mixing sessions back in Systems Two, Mike Marciano took the raw session files, adjusted levels, and added equalization and reverberation with both plug-ins and outboard devices. But other than some dynamic adjustments of volume for each instrument and voice, using ProTool's gain overlays, there is no overall compression added to Cooperstown."

As I said at the outset, the story is a classic tale well told in this imagining by Sasha Matson. Angel is the star pitcher for the Bluebloods, having risen from an impoverished childhood in Santo Domingo. He has fallen in love above his station with the upper East Side fan, Lilly. Complicating their romance is old pro catcher Marvin, who resents Angel's success and quick rise to a starring position on the team. He conspires to undermine Angel's happiness, while the veteran team manager Dutch struggles to keep everyone in line in order to focus on winning games. So, the struggle in both love and baseball is laid out.

The music begins with with the sound of a baseball stadium organ playing the "Charge!" fanfare heard in ballparks everywhere to set the context for the story. Each 'inning' is a scene that focuses on the thoughts or interchanges of one or two of the main characters; pitcher, catcher, agent, manager, girlfriend / love interest. The interludes between scenes allows us to enjoy the impressive musicians in this jazz quintet.

Sasha Matson's love of baseball shines fully in this recording. What else could you expect of someone who today makes his home in the hometown of baseball—Cooperstown, New York, with the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sasha spent his formative years in Berkeley, California, received a Bachelors Degree in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and studied with composers Elinor Armer, John Adams, and Andrew Imbrie. He received his Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory from UCLA.

This new revised recording is available in CD from the usual sources and in 24-88.1 downloadable FLAC file from High Definition Tape Transfers (HERE).