Guitarist, composer, and bandleader Jon Lundbom resides in Brooklyn, New York City. He leads Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord, with which he has released four albums. Their latest, "Quavers! Quavers! Quavers! Quavers!" is now available from New York City's Hot Cup Records.

Jon's music - described as "Hardbop + Zeppelin + Schoenberg" (Dave Madden, 'SLUG') - is a showcase for his "intense phrasing and mind-altering solo spots" (Glenn Astarita, 'All About Jazz'), a "boundary-shattering shot of adrenaline that screws with your head and messes with your soul" (Jordan Richardson, 'The Seattle PI').  Jon has been called "an idiosyncratic genius harboring boundary-stretching notions in his musical make up" (CJ Bond, 'JazMuzic.com'); "hopefully Lundbom will start getting more attention for his fresh perspective, both as a writer and player" (Mike Shanley, 'ShanleyOnMusic').

In addition to Big Five Chord, Jon also co-leads the Jon Lundbom/Bryan Murray Quartet with tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray. As a sideman, Jon performs regularly with Bryan & the Haggards, Wolfe & the Wayside, Andi Rae & the Back River Bullies, the ICUP Orchestra, and Aaron Irwin’s Vicious World Project, as well as with Stuart d’Arrietta’s "Belly of a Drunken Piano – The Music of Tom Waits." Jon has collaborated extensively with a number of theater and performance artists including Julia May Jonas (Nellie Tinder) and Andrew Dinwiddie (Catch! Performance Series).

Originally hailing from the suburbs of Chicago, Jon began playing guitar in the second grade, more seriously as a young teenager. After years of performing in and around his hometown and a brief tour of Europe, Jon moved to Chicago proper to attend the Jazz Studies program at DePaul University. There he studied Jazz guitar with Bob Palmieri, classical guitar with Mark Maxwell, and improvisation with Larry Novak, Larry Gray, Alan Swain, and others. Also, while at DePaul, Jon studied classical composition with Drs. George Flynn, Kurt Westerburg, and Jeff Kowalkowski (of Jack the Dog).

As Jon's interests in twentieth-century classical music and more advanced forms of improvisation developed, his music became increasingly informed by non-linear complexity and open improvisational structures. While at DePaul, Jon maintained an active performance schedule, performing frequently under his own name in and around Chicago. He also, along with cellist and composer Andrew Morgan, co-founded both the DePaul University Avant-Garde Music Society and (with guitarist Aaron Solomon) the Seven Days of Stockhausen improvisation collective. Jon also performed or recorded alongside such renowned musicians as Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Ken Vandermark, Fred Lomberg-Holm, Eric Leonardsen, Laurie Lee-Moses, and Bob Falesch.

Upon graduation, Jon relocated to New York City and began performing on the Jazz and improvised music scenes while studying with guitarists such as John Scofield, Ben Monder, and Steve Cardenas. Eventually, Jon began attending the Master's program at the Manhattan School of Music. There, Jon studied privately with Jack Wilkins, as well as with David Liebman, Chris Rosenberg, and Phil Markowitz, to name a few. Jon left MSM after a semester, however, and began pursuing his own music toward the release of his debut recording, "Big Five Chord."

"Big Five Chord" features long-time friend and fellow Chicago native Jon Irabagon on alto saxophone, along with Dominic Lalli on tenor saxophone, Moppa Elliott on bass, and Justin Walke on drums. The album was recorded at Vibromonk Studios in Brooklyn, NY, by Tamir Muskat (Firewater, Big Lazy, Gogol Bordello); mastered by two-time Grammy-award-winner Seth Foster at Universal Mastering; and released in association with For the Artist Records.  "Big Five Chord" was released to rave reviews, "[convincing] that fusion can mean something appetizing in the 21st Century” (Jay Collins, 'One Final Note'); "Lundbom invests his debut recording with an abundance of energy and youthful fearlessness for investigating the possibilities of sonic exploration" (Bill Donaldson, 'Cadence').  More reviews here.

Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord’s sophomore recording, “All the Pretty Ponies,” was recorded live in New York in Fall of 2004. It features Jon Irabagon on alto saxophone and Moppa Elliott on bass in addition to Bryan Murray on tenor saxophone and Andrew Bain on drums. The album was edited by Charles Lipper and mastered by Seth Foster.  "All the Pretty Ponies" is currently in its third printing.  Reviews here.

In 2009, Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord began recording for New York City's Hot Cup Records and released their third album, "Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord Accomplish Jazz." "Accomplish Jazz" features Jon Irabagon, Bryan Murray, Moppa Elliott, and Danny Fischer on drums. "Accomplish Jazz" was recorded by Wayne Dorell at the Pigeon Club, mixed by Gabe Schwartz at Fireplace Studios, and again mastered by Seth Foster.  Praised as "an incredibly impressive third release from a deliriously talented group" (Dave Wayne, 'JazzReview.com'), "Accomplish Jazz" made numerous end-of-the year lists; Dr. Matt Warnock ('Guitar International') said Lundbom's playing will "challenge the listener to think differently about the instrument and the genre" and called the record "a genre defying, barrier pushing album." More reviews here.

The fourth Big Five Chord album, "Quavers! Quavers! Quavers! Quavers!" (same credits), is now available from Hot Cup.  The incredible press for "Quavers!..." describes "a tremendously fun album to listen to...a piece of pan-genre experimentalism that defies pigeon-holing" (Tim Niland, 'All About Jazz'); "Lundbom's intense phrasings and mind-altering solo spots can exude a semblance of systematic paranoia or command the ensemble like a diesel-powered automaton, wielding a mass of destruction through a heavily populated metropolis" (Glenn Astarita, 'All About Jazz'). More reviews here.

Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord are currently working on their fifth album, scheduled for release on Hot Cup Records in summer of 2012.