KUDOS
Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches. - Andy Warhol
"Herington has provided a deeper contribution to Becker and Fagen's music than any other guitarist since Larry Carlton and curiously enough was brought into the fold in exactly the same way.
Carlton and Herington were both invited to provide rhythm guitar parts in the latter stages of recording projects and accorded far more prominent roles on the next one - in Carlton's case, the memorable leads on The Royal Scam in 1976, including the spectacular solo on Kid Charlemagne, often cited as the best of his wide-ranging career.
Herington's contributions to the Steely Dan albums, and to Morph the Cat and Becker's 2008 Circus Money, don't jump out of the speakers in quite the same way, but he has really hit his stride here, particularly on Weather in My Head. ...
On Weather in My Head, the protagonist weighs up the chances of sorting out global warming against those of fixing his own inner turmoil, and Herington provides a spiky Albert King-derived guitar obligato and solo, offsetting perhaps Fagen's best lyric of the album."
Robin Lynam - South China Morning Post
"Herington's voice is perfect for the songs. It's instantly recognizable and is the ideal match for lyrics that are at turns funny, clever, sarcastic, and plaintive. The production is crisp and clean in a way that albums just aren't anymore. In fact this is the kind of record that doesn't exist in many places these days. It's soulful, with a varied set of great songs that showcase a multitude of influences and let the musicians shine. And it's easily one of the best records of the year."
John Heidt - Vintage Guitar Magazine
"Solo records by session guitarists too often hang gobs of great guitar on flimsy compositional frames, or they attempt to emphasize the songs by stinting on the expected guitar fireworks. Jon Herington's work with Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald qualifies him as a sessioneer extrordinaire, yet he deftly avoids both traps on his fourth record "Time On My Hands", by serving up clever, tightly constructed tunes shot through with searing solos and studded with 6-string ear candy"
Michael Ross - Guitar Player Magazine
"For a player who's normally associated with pristine tone, it's heartening that Jon Herington still enjoys adding a big dollup of filth to his sound. …Through cascading phrases of crisp, imaginative lead guitar, Herington shows off the high-class chops he's honed during more than a decade with the Dan."
Jamie Dickson - Guitarist Magazine
“On "Memorabilia," a polished-up nugget of jazzy, Sanford & Son funk, Donald Fagen calls the title trappings "souvenirs of perfect doom." And if this Steely Dan-style set is proudly retro in sound, nostalgia remains suspect at best to the 64-year-old. "Slinky Thing" snarks at "a burned-out hippie clown," and a cover of the Isaac Hayes deep cut "Out of the Ghetto" gets down with a wink. The band, especially guitarist Jon Herington, is predictably hot and smooth, Fagen's voice oily-sweet as ever. On "New Breed," the singer is dismissed as "Jurassic Park" compared to a dot-commie competitor. Maybe, but to this day, no one does booby-trapped boutique pop better.”
Will Hermes – Rolling Stone
“Truth to be told there isn't a weak track on this album, with Jon's vocals a synthesis of Steve Miller, Boz Skaggs, and Les Dudek, bolstered by an excellent production that emphasizes his lyrical phrasing as much as his mesmerizing playing …There are so many highlights here that it really does sound as if Jon has waited a long time cut loose on his own. And given the opportunity he's proved himself to be a strong song writer, adept producer, consummate guitarist and adroit band leader who knows exactly what he wants. He's a renaissance man with plenty to say and the chops to do so eloquently. An unexpected delight this is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.”
Pete Feenstra – GetReadyToRock.com
“The album’s (Sunken Condos) bookends, “Slinky Thing” and “Planet D’Rhonda”, revisit the generation- spanning romantic escapades of Gaucho’s “Hey 19”. In the opener, fueled by a groove that matches its title, the narrator is “a burned-out hippie clown” who meets and tries to put the make on “a lithe young beauty”, to the amusement of observers as the mismatched couple makes the rounds of various public gatherings. Here and elsewhere, the rich tones of latter-day Dan guitarist Jon Herington provide the ultra- cool counterpoint to Fagen’s decidedly uncool leading man in his increasingly desperate attempts to “Hold on to that slinky thing”.
Bud Scoppa – Uncut.co.uk
"Weather in My Head," one of the most personal songs here, is set to an appropriately bluesy backdrop as the doomed narrator pleads: "They may fix the weather in the world/Just like Mr. Gore said/But tell me what's to be done/About the weather in my head?" Ace guitar man Jon Herington rips off one of the better blues guitar solos I've heard in a long time, just to drive home the point, and Fagen lets him wail on until he's squeezed it all out.”
Doug Pullen – El Paso Times
“Steely Dan mainstay Jon Herington plays the role of The Royal Scam Larry Carlton, applying his versatile skills on guitar to add wah-wah sass to “Slinky Thing,” Carlton-like precise articulations on “Miss Marlene” and hot (but not overdone) blues licks on “Weather In My Head.”
S. Victor Aaron – SomethingElseReviews.com
"...effortless guitar work of Jon Herington..."
Jon Carmanica - New York Times
"But tops was Fagen doing Steely Dan’s always cool “Reelin’ in the Years” - not enough can be said about guitar master Jon Herington, who made a great guitar solo greater." Jed Gottlieb - Boston Herald
"Guitarist Jon Herington was the instrumental star" Jon Bream -Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
"...quicksilver guitarist Jon Herington picked, scratched and poked his way to standing ovations in the encore on fan favorites My Old School' and 'FM'"
Austin Scaggs - Rolling Stone
"...lead guitarist Jon Herington, whose sleek, edgy soloing on My Old School and Black Friday, to name but two, was nothing short of sensational"
David Sinclair - The Times, London
"...first-rate band members, including Jon Herington on guitar" Jon Pareles - New York Times
"(Herington) excelled in forceful numbers like "Peg," "Kid Charlemagne," or "My Old School," where he navigated the maze of horn punctuations with spirit"
Jim Farber - New York Daily News
Herington... was superb -- clean, crisp, remarkably fluid and with a more rockin' tone that suited the somewhat restless spirit of the set.
tconner@suntimes.com
"It was lead guitarist Jon Herington who frequently and spectacularly handled the chore of duplicating and embellishing the famous solos from the original recordings, all laid down years ago by the best session players in the business, and now a part of our collective musical consciousness."
-Rick Shefchik, Pioneer Press
"Guitarist Jon Herington had the Herculean task of recreating the solos for these two tunes, which are akin to scripture in the rock world. He did so with amazing technical facility and aplomb."
-James Lamperetta, The Saratogian
"...needle-sharp lead guitar by Jon Herington. "
- The Washington Post Company
Guitarist Jon Herington was a constant bright spot. His fast and fluid solos all were greeted with rounds of applause from the crowd of 707.
-Curtis Ross, The Tampa Tribune, from review of Madeleine Peyroux
"...red hot lead guitar solo courtesy of Jon Herington." Kevin O'Hare, The Republican
"...a wicked good lead guitarist, who didn't miss a lick" Nadine Burgess - Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre
"Herington isn't fit to lick Carlton's shoes..." posted on a Steely Dan fan website