John Nastos

About

In 2004, Nastos graduated from high school and moved to New York City on a scholarship to study jazz at the acclaimed Manhattan School of Music. At MSM, John studied saxophone and composition with Dick Oatts (Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra), Bob Mintzer (Yellowjackets), Steve Wilson (Chick Corea), and Mike Abene (WDR Big Band). In 2007, John completed the four-year degree program in just three years.

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 arranging and compositional work has been commissioned 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).

He has toured extensively with Grammy‑winning vocalist Dianne Schuur, performing in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has also toured with Grammy‑winning artist Esperanza Spalding.

In addition to performing, John develops tools for musicians. Metronomics (2011) is an innovative metronome used by thousands worldwide, followed by Harmonomics (2015) for ear training, PitchCenter (2017) for tuning, and LessonKeeper (2020) for teachers.

He has authored two books in his ongoing series “The Mechanism”: An Improvisation Overview and Pentatonic Patterns (over 1200 patterns to expand an improviser’s repertoire).

John is on faculty at Portland State University and Mount Hood Community College, and maintains a busy performing, recording, and teaching schedule around the Portland area.