The talented flugelhornist and composer Dimitri Matheny will be returning to Port Townsend with a show at the Cellar Door featuring songs from his new album, “Cascadia,” released in June.

Debuting with record label Origin Records for his 12th album as bandleader, Matheny’s album offers inspired performances of timeless classics and original jazz from the Pacific Northwest.

Matheny and his skillful band will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 21 at the Cellar Door, and admission is $8.

Joined by saxophonist Charles McNeal, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Phil Sparks, and drummer Mark Ivester, Matheny and company shine throughout “Cascadia,” especially on John Coltrane cover “After The Rain,” “On A Misty Night” by Tadd Dameron, and other exquisite pieces.

The album also showcases six new Matheny originals: “Perfect Peaches,” a lyrical bossa nova (Brazilian samba-infused jazz); “Dark Eyes,” a seductive noir ballad; “Evergreen Girl,” a soul-jazz shuffle; “Bourdain,” a memorial elegy; “The Lonesome Road,” a weary traveler’s lament, and “Cascadia,” the evocative title track.

“I’m so proud of this band and so grateful to my fellow musicians for their brilliant work on this project,” Matheny said of the new record.

“We set out to celebrate the sound and spirit of our beloved home region, its luminous wonders, enchanted forests, healing waters, and vibrant creative community. There’s an aspirational sense-of-place here in the upper left, and I believe our music reflects this life-affirming ethos,” he added.

An honors graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and the Berklee College of Music, Matheny vaulted onto the jazz scene in the 1990s as the protégé of jazz legend Art Farmer. Since then, he has garnered critical acclaim and a loyal international following, touring extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and traveling to 19 countries in all.

Matheny has been active in the Northwest since 1995 when he first began touring the region from his home base in San Francisco, California. Upon relocating to Washington in 2016, Matheny was voted Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year in Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards.

The Dmitri Matheny Group presents more than 100 concerts on tour each year.

“Their music is a fertile landscape without boundaries, earning Matheny and his cohorts a reputation as one of the most eclectic and daring ensembles on today’s jazz scene,” wrote the Oakland Tribune.

To learn more about Matheny and his all-star band, visit
dmitrimatheny.com.