Musical Biography
Paul Chasman: A One-Man Guitar Festival
“Spellbinding...imaginative...sensitive...
A fine example of a guitarist’s devotion to the full exploration
of his instrument’s capabilities.”
--Guitar Player Magazine
Paul
Chasman’s musical career has spanned
nearly forty years. He came to Portland, Oregon in 1969, where
he played in a number of blues and bluegrass bands, most notably the
Heavy Gauge String Band. When Paul was twenty-two, he found himself
the single father of a one year old son. This circumstance led
Paul to curtail his career playing in bands and to become a full-time
private teacher in order to balance a musical career with his devotion
to his child. It also developed into a musically fruitful period
during which he spent his free time studying jazz and developing his
solo guitar style. This culminated in 1979 when he released his first
album, Solo Guitar, which Frets Magazine called “...one of
the finest examples of fingerpicking you’ll ever hear.”
At this time, Paul began composing music for
the guitar, melding jazz, classical, and folk idioms into his own unique
style. He developed a system for harmonics on the guitar, cascading,
bell-like tones, which he utilized throughout entire pieces in ways
that had never been done before. Guitar Player Magazine called him “one of the most deft
harmonics practicioners,” and called his harmonics technique “simply
astounding.” He has written articles on his harmonics technique
and other subjects for a number of national publications.
Beginning in 1998, Paul spent a particularly productive decade on the Oregon coast where he composed music for guitar and cello, the outcome being three CD’s: Sonatas No. 1 and 2, Songs from the Bay, and I Hope. Acoustic Guitar magazine said, “Chasman's intricate arrangements are...creative ...effective...well conceived and illustrate (his) deft playing skills and harmonic and melodic gifts as well as his ability to develop his compositional ideas in the ensemble format."
Chasman also helped found the Acoustic Guitar Summit featuring Paul, Terry Robb, Mark Hanson, and Doug Smith. During Paul’s nine year association with the Summit, they played for packed auditoriums in Oregon, Washington, and California, were featured several times on NPR, and recorded two highly acclaimed CD’s.
Paul put his guitars away for a few years during the Bush presidency, devoting his energies to satirical political writing. He developed a website: thecarlletters.com on which he posted “Letters of Advice and Constructive Criticism to the Famous, the Infamous, and the Current Administration” under the pseudonym of Carl Estrada. For years, The Carl Letters has boasted a number one Google rating under the search words: “Anti-Bush Political Humor.” Paul also wrote a novel, “The Book of Bob,” which reportedly had many readers laughing out loud and was described by one critic as “laughing magic.”
Since Paul and his wife moved to the Olympic Peninsula in 2007, he has picked up his guitars again and performed as onstage guitarist in the Port Angeles Community Players production of “Man of La Mancha,” was musical director of PACP’s production of “Celebration,” and has become a staple at the Juan de Fuca Festival. In 2010, he composed and recorded the musical score for a full-length feature film, “The Last of Us,” which was released at the end of that year.
And now, Paul Chasman celebrates 50 years of guitar playing with the release of his new CD, “One Man Guitar Festival,” featured on this web site. Paul is currently planning his “This is Another Tune From My New CD” tour. Check your local listings to see him in an arena, drag racing track, megachurch, or palace near you.
