Featured Artist: Dan Balmer

CD Title: Thanksgiving

Year: 2006

Record Label: Alternative Jazz Music

Style: Contemporary Jazz

Musicians:

Dan Balmer (guitar), Gary Versace (organ), Matt Wilson (drums)

Review:

Jazz guitarist Dan Balmer is featured with his trio, which includes Gary Versace on organ and Matt Wilson on drums, on this latest release Thanksgiving. Listening to Thanksgiving is like attending a master class in jazz guitar as Balmer presents the lowlights and highlights emitted from the strings and interfacing with the organ and drums. The music has equal parts of eclectic and traditional dials creating an album that is a symposium of jazz expressionism.

Each track has its own intricate phrasing as the instrument parts are designed from improvised swizzles and chillout locks like in “Venus” and “Allow Myself.” The general mood is low keyed with mildly-tempered registers and cruising tempos. The chords interface with each other creating inventive and original combinations like a lesson in creating new expressions with jazz. “Just Like You” has a bluesy texture that emotes joy, while “The Longest Day Of The Year” shows more sorrow and introspection. “Greasy Kid Stuff” has deep grooves as “Hearts Of Steel” and “The Sea The Sea” are more even streamed. “Stalled” shows the trios talent for playing a soothing base melody and overlapping it with funky improvisations while tucking in the hemlines so pieces are not left straggling. “Rain” has lounging melodic straps that segue into the delicate streaming motions of the title track as if they were joined at the hip.

As a trio, the group shows an instinct for weaving their parts into complementing phrases. It helps that Dan Balmer is an acclaimed composer and arranger with works that have been popular on radio and used in films, television, commercials, and even choreographed by Oregon Ballet Theater. Balmer is also well known as an educator having lectured at University of Southern California, University of California at Berkeley, University of Oregon, Spokane Falls Community College, and University of Alaska at Anchorage, as well as internationally in Spain and Canada. He is a faculty member of the Western Oregon University Mel Brown Jazz Workshop and Centrum Jazz Workshop in Pt. Townsend. Balmer also oversees the jazz band at Lewis & Clark College and has taught there for over twenty years.

Thanksgiving is a perfect depiction of Balmer’s abilities as a modern jazz guitarist.

Tracks:

Venus, Allow Myself, Just Like You, The Longest Day Of The Year, Hearts Of Steel, Greasy Kid Stuff, The Sea The Sea, Stalled, Rain, Thanksgiving

Artist's Website: http://www.danbalmer.com

Listen or Buy: www.cdbaby.com/cd/danbalmer2

Reviewed by: Susan Frances

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