Sasha Matson & Various Artists - Cooperstown: Jazz Opera in Nine Innings (2020) [Hi-Res]

• This recording is a revised version of Cooperstown, originally released in 2015 and was named record of the month by Stereophile. The libretto is based on an essay by A. Bartlett Giamatti titled The Green Fields of the Mind. Composer Sasha Matson says that "Baseball has its own specific historical musical attributes. One of them is the sound of the stadium organ. That sound led me quickly to scoring the music for a Miles jazz quintet. Matson added a vocal cast of five for this one act, nine scene jazz opera. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory and UCLA, Matson has scored music for feature films and other multi-media in addition to his own compositional work.

• "Cooperstown: Jazz Opera in Nine Innings, is scored for a 1950s-style jazz quintet and
five singers. The composer is Sasha Matson, with libretto by Mark Miller, inspired by A. Bartlett Giamatti’s essay The Green Fields of the Mind. Although this story takes place at the ballpark, it features all of the elements of a great opera: Angel, from impoverished Santo Domingo and newly raised to the majors as a pitcher, falls in love with Lilly from the Upper East Side. Undermining their romance is Marvin, the aging pro catcher, and Jan, the jealous sports agent in love with Angel. The dual love of baseball and the romantic love stories unfold as the team manager, Dutch, attempts to manage the relationship struggles to focus on winning games. In the liner notes Matson describes in detail the recording process that allowed his team to capture sounds reminiscent of original Blue Note recordings, (microphone choices, specific recording and mixing equipment). The result is an outstanding listening experience: the sounds are rich and full but the music is as close and detailed as it would be in an intimate luscious jazz lounge. The classically trained voices are gorgeous and skillfully blend in with the jazz quintet. Each scene (Inning) is bookended by a short and seamless transition in the form of an instrumental jazz chart played with impressive skills by musicians of the jazz quintet. Cooperstown might perhaps be more at home on a theatrical stage than at the opera house but it is a top-shelf musical experience." (The Whole Note)

• "…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.…" (Positive Feedback)