Jazz Man Dan Balmer Hits Oregon Coast's Newport in August With Trio

Published 08/10/2026 at 7:59 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Newport, Oregon) – Oregon Coast Council for the Arts will bring one of the region's most celebrated jazz figures to Newport later this month, presenting the Dan Balmer Trio in the David Ogden Stiers Theatre at the Newport Performing Arts Center on Sunday, August 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Balmer, a member of both the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and the Jazz Society of Oregon Hall of Fame, arrives with decades of experience that have shaped him into one of the Northwest's defining jazz guitar voices. His trio format highlights the soulful improvisation and swinging, soul-jazz pulse that have long been his signature.

His career began early, with coffee-house gigs at fifteen, eventually leading to chart success in the 1990s with the Tom Grant Band and world tours with two-time Grammy winner Diane Schuur. Balmer's playing appears on nearly one hundred recorded CDs, and his original compositions have reached audiences worldwide through television, film, and radio.

Balmer is also a prominent educator, teaching private lessons, clinics, and master classes across the U.S. and abroad. He regularly adjudicates major student jazz festivals, including Monterey's Next Generation Festival and the Reno Jazz Festival, and is a longtime instructor at the Centrum Jazz Workshop. In Portland, he directs jazz combos at Lewis & Clark College and has served on the faculty of nearly every major college in the metro area.

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Over the years, he has performed or toured with an extensive list of jazz greats, among them Joey DeFrancesco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Les McCann, Javon Jackson, Karrin Allyson, Benny Golson, Jeff Hamilton, Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen, Duduka da Fonseca, Kendrick Scott, Taylor Eigsti, Buddy De Franco, and Bruce Forman.

Tickets are $33 general admission, or $30 for OCCA members, and are available through the Newport Performing Arts Center Box Office at 777 W. Olive Street, by phone at 541-265-2787, or online (surcharge applies). More information is available at coastarts.org/events/dan-balmer-trio.

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