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February 2025 marked the release of a new recording of my compositions: Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar. This is the sixth album of my music. My first solo outing as a composer—Steel Chords i-5, on AudioQuest Music—was in 1993.

I am part of a small music demographic that I described in 1998, in an article in Positive Feedback, as "high-end composer." Another applicable term might be "audiophile composer." There are others who work this way, but not many. Few musicians are as interested as I am in the recording and reproduction of their music. I like to hear the sausage getting made.

When I set out to assemble something musical, I don't think in terms of songs, tracks, or playlists—I'm trying to put together an album. Even more old-school: I'm thinking in terms of an album that has two sides, two parts to the program, like an LP. Figuring out what that program should be takes a long time.

In the case of Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar, I decided on a two-piece set consisting of one old composition and one new one. These two works live in two different musical ballparks. Fillmore Street, on side 1 of the LP, is scored for a jazz orchestra. It tells musical stories about three locations in California. The older work on the album, Little Woodstar, which I composed while in grad school, leans classical.

So right there, I created a challenge for myself. The world of music distribution does not welcome recordings in more than one music genre. Many listeners feel the same way: Jazz people aren't interested in hearing a classical piece; classical people don't want to hear jazz. I created a hurdle for myself that wasn't strictly necessary.

This music is challenging for players. One reason is that I love wide-open, Copland-like harmonies featuring exposed fourths and fifths. If the intonation on these is off, the music is DOA. Fortunately, I had access to the best musicians, and my longtime concertmaster, Peter Kent, who assembled this West Coast studio orchestra, has perfect pitch.

A professional studio recording utilizing professional musicians costs money. Why couldn't I record friends in my bedroom, for free? Little Woodstar, a celebratory environmental statement, was originally composed for a large symphony orchestra and vocal quintet. I rescored it for a 16-piece studio orchestra but kept the vocal quintet. Even so, it would require a very large bedroom! The jazz ensemble had 16 musicians, total—no vocalists—so it, too, would require a big room.

Besides, I'm an audiophile composer: it needs to sound as good as possible. So I needed real musicians, a real studio, real engineers. To meet budget, each piece would need to be recorded in a single 6-hour session; only the very best studio-savvy musicians could pull that off.

I ended up working on both coasts, recording Little Woodstar in Los Angeles and Fillmore Street—the West Coast work—in New York. In each city, I was able to work with the best studio musicians.

The other side of the glass is important, too. My L.A. engineer was Steve Genewick, who for years assisted Al Schmitt at Capitol. In recent years, Genewick has recorded Diana Krall, Dwight Yoakam, Bob Dylan, and Michael Bublé, among others. In New York, my engineers were Chris Allen and James Farber. Allen's recent recording credits are a who's-who of current jazz artists: Kurt Elling, Sullivan Fortner, Steve Davis, Mary Halvorson. Farber's technical credits are legendary; among many other recordings, he is responsible for several recent Stereophile favorites including Heart and Vintage by Jérôme Sabbagh and 12 Stars and Echoes of the Inner Prophet by Melissa Aldana.

In L.A., I chose Studio 1 at East/West Studios in Hollywood, one of the best large rooms still running in Los Angeles. This is where Frank Sinatra recorded all his 1960s Reprise albums. String instruments sound great there, which made it ideal for recording the classical piece. In New York, I recorded at Sear Sound, which is known for its extensive collection of microphones, many purchased years ago by Walter Sear, the studio founder. Sear Sound offered the use of its vintage Moog Model IIIc modular synthesizer, made in 1968 by Robert Moog for Sear, his partner. Operated by jazz pianist Adam Birnbaum, this instrument sounded awesome!

Another key part of my audio SWAT team were coproducers John Atkinson and Joe Harley; Harley produced my first album in 1992 and was onboard for the Los Angeles session. Stereophile Technical Editor John Atkinson, who has now worked with me on four albums (footnote 1), took charge in New York. Both of these gentlemen are expert at calling balls and strikes in the heat of battle and are hands-on with the subsequent editing, mixing, and mastering.

My music is melodic, which was out of favor when I first began composing; in those days, tunes were scarce. Early on, I was influenced by Frank Zappa, with whom I got to spend some time. Frank once said to me, "I like music with a lot of little notes in it."

There can be a lot of changes to keep up with in my music, recalling Zappa's collage-like technique. On the new album, you can hear this rapid deployment highlighted in the third movement of Fillmore Street, "Mar Vista," as jazz improvised solos coexist with through-composed scoring. This is not background music. In his liner notes, coproducer Joe Harley states: "As always, Sasha Matson takes you on a journey."

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Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar is on the Albany Records label. It's available on 180gm LP at Acoustic Sounds and other fine retailers, on CD from amazon.com, for download via all the usual suspects, and streaming on all the major services. More information on Sasha's compositions and recordings can be found here.

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Footnote 1: The first project of Sasha's that I produced was his jazz operaCooperstown, which was Stereophile's Recording of April 2015 and was rereleased in a revised version in 2019. I also produced Tight Lines, and Molto Molto.—John Atkinson