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, and has toured and/or recorded with Madeleine Peyroux; Donald Fagen; Walter Becker; Boz Scaggs; Bette Midler; Phoebe Snow; Bobby Caldwell; The Dukes of September and many more.

Jon’s solo discography includes Pulse and Cadence, an instrumental record dating from 1992, and four records and a live DVD of his singer/songwriter material (Like So; shine shine shine; Time On My Hands; Adult Entertainment; Live - The Jon Herington Band). In addition, he has released five books and three records of his arrangements for solo guitar.

Jon was featured as a co-writer and co-producer of Madeleine Peyroux’s “Let’s Walk,” released in 2024; and he recorded a duo album with longtime collaborator Jim Beard entitled “Chunks and Chairknobs,” released in 2019.

As an educator, Jon has courses and a video “channel” available via TrueFire, the world's most comprehensive library of guitar instruction. The TrueFire EAR IQ series currently has two offerings, “Reactive Improvisation: Develop big ears and powerful improvisation skills,” and “Soloing Strategies: Creative and harmonic approaches for crafting solos.”

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. 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. His work included performing with many different bands and for many Broadway shows; session recording; teaching; and an occasional writing or arranging job. Jon's current work remains a combination of free-lancing as a guitarist, songwriter and producer in New York, private music and guitar instruction, and world-wide touring in support of some of the world's most renowned musical artists

Photos by Susan Johnson

SHORT FORMAT BIO

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, and has toured and/or recorded with Madeleine Peyroux; Donald Fagen; Walter Becker; Boz Scaggs; Bette Midler; Phoebe Snow; Bobby Caldwell; The Dukes of September and many more.

Jon’s solo discography includes Pulse and Cadence, an instrumental record dating from 1992, and four records and a live DVD of his singer/songwriter material (Like So; shine shine shine; Time On My Hands; Adult Entertainment; Live - The Jon Herington Band). In addition, he has released five books and three records of his arrangements for solo guitar.

Jon was featured as a co-writer and co-producer of Madeleine Peyroux’s “Let’s Walk,” released in 2024; and he recorded a duo album with longtime collaborator Jim Beard entitled “Chunks and Chairknobs,” released in 2019.

As an educator, Jon has courses and a video “channel” available via TrueFire, the world's most comprehensive library of guitar instruction. The TrueFire EAR IQ series currently has two offerings, “Reactive Improvisation: Develop big ears and powerful improvisation skills,” and “Soloing Strategies: Creative and harmonic approaches for crafting solos.”

Jon's current work remains a combination of free-lancing as a guitarist, songwriter and producer in New York, private music and guitar instruction, and world-wide touring in support of some of the world's most renowned musical artists.