Since the early 80's Dan Balmer has been the defining sound of contemporary jazz guitar in the Northwest. Dan began his early career with legendary Native American saxaphonist Jim Pepper, but is best known for his work from 1983-1993 with keyboardist TomGrant. With Grant, Balmer composed and performed pop/jazz music that received worldwide aclaim and recognition. The immensely popular band broke up in 1993 and Balmer embarked on a successful solo career creating his unique brand of emotional, guitar based instrumental music. Based in Portland, Dan has performed 250 gigs a year at clubs, festivals, and workshops in the U.S. and abroad. Dan has produced six solo recordings, and released "Through These Years" in 2004 as a retrospective of his most popular early songs plus two brand new pieces. Dan has also been busy as a sideman, appearing with jazz legends Joey Defrancesco, Airto, Bill Mays, Pat Martino, Joe Locke, Bud Shank, Pete Christlieb, Red Mitchell and many others. He currently is a member of drummer Mel Brown's Quartet and Hammond B-3 Group, as well as David Friesen's Quintet. He regularly appears with numerous other NW artists and is a featured educator at the Centrum Jazz Workshop, the WOU Mel Brown Jazz Workshop and performs at various other Universities and Jazz Festivals. Dan's works have appeared in movies and television shows and have been choreographed by Ballet Oregon. Dan is currently on the faculty of Lewis and Clark College in Portland.