Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of standards and an empathetic musical soul, the music flows from Jon Wheatley’s guitar in chord melody and single note improvisations that convey the history and emotional richness of the American songbook through jazz harmony.  Hearing Jon play the standards, modulating through keys, building through chord melodies and subtly quoting other tunes during his improvisations can have an intoxicating effect on the listener.

Jon is one of Boston’s busiest guitarists, and his resume as sideman is dense.  With a career spanning thirty-three years, he’s played with a number of famous players, including Scott Hamilton, Ruby Braff, Alan Dawson, Teddy Kotick, Diana Krall, Mike Metheny, Karyn Allison, “Sweets” Edison, Urbie Green, Joe Wilder, Benny Waters, Dick Hyman, Donna Byrne, Marshall Wood, Daryl Sherman, Ken Peplowski and Randy Sandke to name a few, and all have benefited from his masterful playing.  In addition to gigging an average of 3-4 times a week, Jon is the coordinator of the Guitar Department at University of Lowell, MA, is now a faculty member at Berklee, and teaches privately.

“Jon is one of the premier guitarists of today … his repertoire is endless. It's a thrill to hear him!” (Arnie Krakowsky)“…there is no more inspirational person to me on any instrument.” (Marshall Wood)

• January 30, 2007 - Getting Creative With Standard Tunes