Sasha Matson Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar 180g LP

TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 5/5 Sonics in the May/June 2025 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Take a foundation of classical composition, add a whole lot of jazz influence, and sprinkle in some Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead and you get Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar, a walloping one-two punch of works for jazz and studio orchestra by composer Sasha Matson. The titular Little Woodstar incorporates a vocal quintet in a lush, progressive journey that keeps ears perked and ready for the next thing. The texts refer to names of species included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.

The record is rounded out with Fillmore Street, where Matson walks us through three of his most meaningful California locales with an upbeat energy that conjures feet slapping pavement and rubber hitting the road. Adding to the album's zest are the rooms where it was recorded: the legendary Sear Sound studio in Manhattan and East/West Studios in Hollywood with seasoned producers Joe Harley (Blue Note Records) and John Atkinson (Stereophile).

FILLMORE STREET
Recorded May and April 2024 at Sear Sound in New York, NY
Session Engineer & Mixing: James Farber
Moog Programming: Owen Mulholland

LITTLE WOODSTAR
Orchestra recorded October 2023 at East/West Studios in Hollywood, CA
Vocals recorded January 2024 at Sear Sound in New York, NY
Session Engineers: Steve Genewick, Chris Allen
Mixing: Chris Allen

Matson's eclectic influences draw from the spheres of classical, jazz, pop, and rock, yet the effect is never pastiche, rather fused into a sound and style all his own. The album was produced by Joe Harley and John Atkinson, and the sonics, multi-miked and beautifully mixed, have superb dynamic range and transparency that serve music which delights, excites, and moves in equal measure...Enthusiastically recommended.