Jon Herington is a longtime New York city based guitarist, singer/songwriter, producer, bandleader, and educator. He has been the guitarist of choice with the iconic band Steely Dan for both recording and touring since 1999. Jon has six solo releases in his discography, the most recent of which, (quiet), is a collection of 18 of his many arrangements for solo guitar. An earlier release of Time On My Hands earned him a nomination for Vintage Guitar Hall Of Fame Album of the Year.

In recent years Jon has expanded into education and is currently offering instruction via TrueFire, the world's most comprehensive library of guitar instruction. The TrueFire EAR IQ series has two formal course offerings, Reactive Improvisation and Soloing Strategies, and Jon also offers more informal instruction via his TrueFire channel, Infinite Ear IQ. In 2015 Jon released Arrangements for Guitar, a book in standard musical notation and tablature for unaccompanied guitar. three additional books of arrangements followed, (more!) Arrangements For Guitar, (still more!) Arrangements For Guitar, and (even more!) Arrangements For Guitar. Jon has been sharing his love of solo guitar arranging and playing with monthly, live, interactive online workshops since July 2020.

Jon's love for music surfaced early, and he studied piano, saxophone, and harmony in his grade school years. Just before his high school years, however, he developed a passion for pop music and the electric guitar, and soon was writing songs and performing with his own band near his New Jersey Shore home doing opening slots for local hero Bruce Springsteen, beginning a performing career that has continued ever since. College followed, with extensive musical studies in both classical and jazz composition and theory at Rutgers University, and private jazz guitar study, with the help of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, with the late, great jazz guitarist, Harry Leahey. Next came several years of study with the late Dennis Sandole, the acclaimed music teacher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who once taught the late greats James Moody and John Coltrane.

Jon's gigging life took a detour for about three years when he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, home to jazz guitar great Wes Montgomery. There Jon played jazz, with the many accomplished local players and former band-mates of Wes, including Wes's brother Buddy Montgomery, "Killer" Ray Appleton, "Pookie" Johnson, and organist and vocalist Terry Hayden, as well as the many talented young players who were students or residents in Indiana, including Jim Beard, Bob Hurst, Kenny Aronov, Chris Botti, and Shawn Pelton. Jon also began doing extensive session work at the time in several of the local studios, and played on dozens of jingles and albums.

After a return to the New York area, Jon began the challenging process of establishing a working life in New York, which included performing with many different bands and for many Broadway shows, session recording, teaching, and an occasional writing, arranging, or producing job.

Jon's debut release in 1992 titled The Complete Rhyming Dictionary (remastered and retitled as Pulse and Cadence), was an instrumental recording, showcasing eight of his own compositions as well as the brilliant playing of keyboardist Jim Beard, bassist Victor Bailey, drummer Peter Erskine, and percussionist Arto Tuncboyacian. Recently Jon revisited his jazz roots with the release of Chunks and Chairknobs, a jazz duo recording with long time collaborator Jim Beard.

In addition to touring and recording with Steely Dan, Jon has also toured with Donald Fagen; Boz Scaggs; Bette Midler; the Jim Beard group; The Blue Nile; Phoebe Snow; Madeleine Peyroux; Bobby Caldwell; Catherine Russell; Rob Morsberger; saxophonist Bill Evans; the contemporary jazz superband Chroma; Lucy Kaplansky; jazz/blues organ great Jack McDuff; and The Dukes of September, a supergroup featuring Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, and Michael McDonald.

Some of Jon's recording highlights aside from his solo works are the Walter Becker release Circus Money; the most recent Donald Fagen release Sunken Condos as well as his prior release Morph the Cat; the Steely Dan albums Two Against Nature (Grammy Award Winner) and Everything Must Go. Jon can also be seen on Steely Dan's Live Two Against Nature DVD, the Making of Aja DVD, from the Classic Albums series and the Dukes of September Live at Lincoln Center DVD. Jon's current work remains mostly a combination of performing and teaching in New York, along with world-wide touring in support of some of the world's most renowned musical artists.

Photos by Susan Johnson

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Jon Herington is a longtime New York city based guitarist, singer/songwriter, producer, and bandleader. He is the leader of the Jon Herington Band and has been the guitarist of choice with the iconic band Steely Dan for both recording and touring since 1999. With the launch of (quiet) encore, Jon now has eight solo releases in his discography. His previous release, Time On My Hands, was nominated for Vintage Guitar Hall Of Fame Album of the Year. His guitar work with Steely Dan can be heard on their recordings Everything Must Go and Two Against Nature (both the CD and the live DVD) and on the Steely Dan VH1 Storytellers and Making of Aja DVD releases. Jon was also featured as lead guitarist on the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue's Live at Lincoln Center DVD.

Jon also tours regularly with unique song stylist Madeleine Peyroux and has previously toured with Donald Fagen; Boz Scaggs; The Dukes of September (a supergroup featuring Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, and Michael McDonald); Bette Midler; Phoebe Snow; and Bobby Caldwell.