Don Latarski Quintessential

Name: Don Latarski Quintessential
Start: 2025-01-11T19:30:00-08:00
End: 2025-01-11T22:00:00-08:00
Location: 124 W Broadway, Eugene, OR, United States, Oregon 97401

Schedule

Sat Jan 11 2025 at 07:30 pm to 10:00 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

124 W Broadway, Eugene, OR, United States, Oregon 97401 | Eugene, OR

Practitioners of acoustic original jazzarcana.

Damien Masterson harmonica
Don Latarski guitar
Chris Bucheit guitar
Zach Wallmark bass
Jason Palmer drums

7:30 PM - 10:00 PM | $25

Don Latarski has been playing the guitar since 1963. At the age of 10 he put down the accordion and gave up little league baseball for guitar lessons. These decisions have proven to be sound.

Latarski grew up in a rural community about 35 miles north of Detroit, Michigan. After moving to Oregon at the age of 19 he began studying jazz. As a music student at the University of Oregon he studied classical guitar and that experience led him to incorporate finger picking. His fingerstyle approach incorporates elements of jazz, folk, blues, and Americana. His multiple Heart Dance Records releases focus on low-strung (baritone) guitars. He was head of guitar studies at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance from 1984 to 2017.

Most of his life has revolved around composing, practicing, teaching, recording, and performing. After graduating with a music degree he was hired to be head of guitar studies at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. He has authored and published 18 books on guitar instruction and recorded 22 albums, mostly of original music. His passions include bakeries, hiking, photography, forest bathing, and surfing the flow.

Chris Bucheit started playing guitar and singing at age 10. He has studied with private instructors in many different genres, including Classical, Jazz, Latin and Rock and has performed regionally and nationally as a solo performer and with the Chris Bucheit Group. He has competed and been a finalist in singer/songwriting competitions such as the Telluride Troubadour Contest (1998) and The Newport Folk Festival Singer/Songwriting Contest (2004). He’s produced 7 albums over the last 20 years that feature Rock, Jazz and Solo Guitar. His second CD “Hand to Mouth” received Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s “Homegrown CD Award”. In 2011 he completed the Masters Jazz Guitar Certificate with Berklee School of Music Online and continued instruction with Gary Burton's capstone Jazz Improvisation class. Chris was a finalist that year in the Yamaha/Lee Ritenour Six String Theory Contest, winning enrollment to the National Guitar Workshop in addition to attending the Pat Metheny Jazz Camp. While living and working in Madison, Wisconsin Chris performed with the group Major Vistas and recorded and produced the album "Minor Anthems". His most recent album "Guitar Music" features original instrumental compositions that blend several styles and genres. Chris moved with his wife to Oregon in 2022 and is currently working on an album to be released in 2025 of original compositions and guitar arrangements of Jazz standards.

Bassist Zach Wallmark has performed in jazz, bluegrass, and other improvisatory and groove-based musical contexts around the US. Prior to moving to Eugene in 2019, he was active in the music scenes of New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Portland, including regular appearances at Fat Cat, Knitting Factory, Tonic, Birdland, Cotton Club, and CBGB (NYC); Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club (Miami); and Jimmy Mak’s and Blue Monk (Portland).

He has performed with jazz luminaries such as guitarist Kenny Burrell and saxophonist George Garzone, and recorded with the Gian Tornatore Quartet, Ben Darwish Trio, Muddy Souls, and Moon Mountain String Band. He’s also a commercial music and award-winning string orchestra composer (Neil A. Kjos Music Publishers) with credits in regional and national ad campaigns. Zach’s day job is Associate Professor and Chair of Musicology at the University of Oregon, with research and teaching on popular music history and music psychology.

At the age of 14, inspired by Blues masters Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and Sonny Terry, Damien Masterson started playing diatonic harmonica. At 16, he received as a gift an alto saxophone, and applied the theory learned through sax lessons to another recent gift, the chromatic harmonica. Around that same time he was introduced to Altaneze Taylor, the founder of Bright Moments Music Lovers Club. Through her organization, he met and studied with professional musicians and learned about Jazz history and culture. As an adult he entered Laney College and studied with Elvo D'amante and Ed Kelly. He transferred directly for an exchange program (aka "Intercambio") to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he lived, studied, and played for the next two years.

Upon returning from Brazil he was soon playing in the Bay Area's top clubs with the area’s best Brazilian and Jazz musicians, resulting in the 1996 debut CD release, "Intercambio," inspired by his overseas adventures. In 1997, after nine consecutive visits to Havana, Damien produced "Cubacambio," taking his passion for World Music, Jazz and Pop and melding them into one vision. "Cubacambio" is one of the first recordings featuring chromatic harmonica in an authentic Cuban setting.In following years, Damien expanded his performance and recording into many genres, mixing Jazz, Rock, Pop and World Music styles, searching for an elusive "sound" to express the music he heard growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 70's and 80's. That exploration can be heard in his various recordings on his own albums, and the recordings of other artists. During this time he was fortunate to tour and perform all over the globe, including Europe, Asia and North America.

In 2009 Damien released "All Over the Map," his first major release since "Cubacambio." Considered one of his finest albums, it showcases his compositional and arranging talents, as well his trademark harmonica and saxophone chops. A collaborative effort with Bassist/Producer/Engineer Jon Evans of San Pablo Recorders, featuring Allison Miller on drums and Julie Wolf on keyboards, "All Over the Map" has been dubbed a "must have."

In years since, Damien has been searching for lost rhythms and atypical ways to syncopate his compositions. That exploration transported him all over the world; but it was his discovery of certain styles of African music, especially Senegalese Mbalax, that captured his heart and soul. During 2009 - 2010 Damien traveled to Africa 4 times, studying, performing and recording in Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa, ultimately building a studio in Dakar, which allowed lower income artists to create recordings and demos. Damien lived in Dakar, Senegal for 4 years, performing and touring with a number of groups.

Damien is also a polyglot and can speak several languages fluently, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese and Wolof. He has a Bachelors in Music with a minor in Spanish from San Francisco State University.

Jason Palmer (drums and percussion) Jason Palmer holds degrees in Jazz Studies and Percussion Performance from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, and has had a wide variety of musical experiences, playing soul, funk, disco, blues, jazz, rock, reggae, second-line and gospel. A frequent collaborator with guitarist Don Latarski, he performs with many varied groups in and around Eugene and has been a regular in The Shedd Institute’s performance schedule, including extensive work with Dick Hyman and Ken Peplowski.

In addition to drumming, he is a percussionist, composer, and educator in Portland, Oregon. He has performed in the Rochester Jazz Festival, the High Sierra Festival, the Gene Harris Jazz Festival, and more! Jason received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Oregon. Since then, he been an active performer with many jazz artists in the Portland area. A drummer by trade, he serves as department chair for the Performing Arts Department at Portland Community College, Rock Creek campus.
Click the link below to buy tickets
https://thejazzstation.org/get-tickets/upcoming-shows/#!event/register/2025/1/11/don-latarski-quintessential?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=event&utm_campaign=latarski
Online ticket purchases close one hour before showtime. If the show is NOT sold out, and tickets remain, they can be purchased directly at the box office door. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.