Photo by Clamber
Upcoming Shows
1000 Airplanes on the Roof | May 20 & 21, 2023 | 8:00pm @ Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
John Nastos | saxophone
Multi-instrumentalist John Nastos was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, where he found his love of music while exploring the vibrant local music scene.
Before graduating from high school, John enrolled at Portland State University, where he studied with Alan Jones, Darrell Grant, and other Portland jazz luminaries. During that same year, he started performing with the Mel Brown Septet, the Gordon Lee Big Band, and other professional Portland groups.
Since returning to Portland, John has performed with the who’s who of the Portland scene, including the Mel Brown Septet, the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Opera, the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, 45th Parallel, Darrell Grant’s On the Territory, the Damian Erskine Project, and the Christopher Brown Quartet. He has recorded with the Chuck Israels Orchestra, Intervision, Drew Shoals, Obo Addy, Ezra Weiss, Damian Erskine, Chance Hayden, Ben Darwish’s Commotion, Tony Glausi, Jessie Marquez, and others.
Nastos’s composition, arranging, and compositional skills have been commissioned for performances and recordings by Damian Erskine, the Bobby Torres Ensemble, the Art Abrams Swing Machine, Portland State University, and Pink Martini (for performances with the San Francisco Symphony and other orchestras around the world).
