After graduating Berklee in the early 1980’s Jon Finn’s career didn’t really start until he quit play guitar for a while. He recognized that his career was not moving forward despite his best efforts. He quit. Burned out and frustrated. From that point forward, he made a promise to himself that he would do his best to focus only on the music itself; not whether it’s successful.
Jon Finn Group started as a weekly, informal jam session among friends. The original drummer was Mike Mangini (who now plays with Dream Theater – he stopped coming because he’d joined a band called “Extreme” and didn’t have time any more). Joe Santerre was the original bassist and continues to play with Jon to this day. Over the years other players have come and gone. To date they’ve recorded 3 full-length albums and played concert venues all over the world.
This has led to a career that his closest friends refer to as “Jon Finn’s rise to international obscurity”. He can go almost anywhere in the world and there will be 3 or 4 people that know who he is.
Jon Finn, Guitar
A guitarist since age six, Jon Finn has been a professional musician for most of his life. Today, he’s been repeatedly acknowledged within the international community of musicians as being a clear leader in Modern Rock Guitar as a performer, composer and educator. Joining the guitar faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1988, he started the Jon Finn Group later that same year. To date, they have three internationally released CDs, Don’t Look So Serious (Legato Records 1994), Wicked (SEP Records 2000), “Bull in a China Shop” (SEP Records 2010) several independent releases, and countless performances worldwide under their belts. For over three years, Jon wrote a monthly instructional feature for a national magazine called Guitar. Jon has also authored several books for Mel Bay Publications: Advanced Modern Rock Guitar Improvisation, One Guitar, Many Styles, Blues/Rock Improvisation, Riffs: Volume One, and a few more currently in production. In his freelance pursuits, he’s played guitar for the national touring companies of many contemporary musical theater productions such as Rent, Aida, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, High School Musical, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Copacabana, and many others. Today Jon frequently performs and records with the Boston Pops Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. With them he’s performed with Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Rockapella, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Natalie Cole, Carly Simon, Bernadette Peters, New York Voices, Demi Lovato and many others. He’s been involved in a plethora of concerts and recording sessions, including 6 CDs (two of which were Grammy nominated), 8 US concert tours, and one tour in Asia.
Jon has also performed with some of the world’s premier guitarists as a co-featured performer: John Petrucci, Guthrie Govan, Carl Verheyen, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Larue, Andy Timmons, Vinnie Moore, Steve Morse, Tom Scholz, Barry Goudreau, Tom Morello and others.
One of his songs, “Berlin Wall” appears in the motion picture release “Refusenik”, a documentary about Soviet Jews and their struggle to escape to the US during the Cold-War era. Jon’s guitar is heard on the NFL Theme Song during the football season.
Jon spends his spare time with his family.
Juli Finn, Guitar
Juli Finn is a Songwriter, Recording Artist, Guitarist, Recording Session Guitarist, and a Guitar Instructor. She was a founding member of the instrumental trio Destiny and has played live nationally, opening for artists such as Joe Satriani, Robin Trower, Ronnie James Dio, and Blue Oyster Cult. She has released a full length CD with Destiny and two solo recordings, an EP in 2011 and a Full Length CD in 2012 (recorded in Nashville.) She has won numerous guitar competitions including Joe Satriani’s Whooznxt, hosted by Guitar Center in 2012, and Lincoln Brewster’s Show Me What You Got in 2010. Her YouTube Channel has over 1,800 subscribers and 450,000 views. Before moving to Boston she played for the Pacific Northwest’s premiere dance band, The Rhythm Nation and the Disco/Funk sensation, DanceMaxx Band. Juli earned her Bachelor’s degree in Guitar performance from Berklee College of Music in the fall of 2016. In addition to playing with The Experts she currently teaches guitar at Guitar Center in Braintree, MA and also performs regularly with the Jon Finn Group. Learn more about Juli Finn
Joe Santerre, Bass
Joe Santerre plays primarily 6 string electric bass. He is the bassist in the Jon Finn Group. Joe has been teaching in the Bass Department at Berklee College of Music since 1984 and is the first primarily 6 string bass player in the department. For seven years he was a contributing writer for Bass Frontiers Magazine. Also, Joe has published three bass books for Berklee Press/Hal Leonard Publications. He has recorded instructional bass video lessons for Jamplay.com. and has a solo CD, “The Scenic Route”. Joe has recorded and/or performed with Jon Finn, Guthrie Govan, Carmen Paris, Chad Wackerman, (Alan Holdsworth, Zappa), Mike Mangini (Dream Theater) Dave DiCenso (JFG, Hiromi) Larry Finn, Mark Walker (Paquito D’Rivera), Danny McClain (Earth Wind & Fire), Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs), Steve Hunt (Stanley Clarke, Alan Holdsworth), George Garzone, John Blackwell (Prince, Justin Timberlake), Casey Schuerell (Jean Luc Ponty), Equie Castillo (Tito Puente),Tom Coster (Santana), Dino Govoni, and Ross Ramsay among others. Joe likes to make the groove feel good! He spends his free time with family & nature.
Learn More about Joe Santerre
Larry Finn, Drums
Though he has no relation to Jon, the musical rapport he and Jon create together is a reflection of Larry’s unique, empathetic, and enthusiastic drumming style. Larry is one of the most popular drum instructors on the Berklee College of Music faculty and a very well-known freelance drummer with credits ranging from The Courage Brothers and Tiger Okoshi to Rent. Recently, Larry released an instructional drumming video called Accelerate Your Drumming for Rittor Music that has brought his personal drumming style acclaim all over the world.
“Being a drummer is like being a professional athlete in that you have to be in shape both physically and mentally. A lot of people, when they see a drummer playing a repetitive groove for three minutes, might not realize how hard that is to do. It’s difficult to put the whole package—good technique and a musical approach—together.”
Learn more about Larry Finn
Rich Cesarini, Keys
Rich Cesarini has been a well-known piano/keyboard/accordion player and instructor since the mid 1980’s. He has played and recorded with many bands in New England including the Fat City Band, Po’Boys, Godsends, Big Daddy and the Accelerators, NH favorites Brickyard Blues and the popular New England Grateful Dead cover band Deadbeat. Rich played keyboards on Bus Hair, a track from Jon Finn’s release “Don’t Look So Serious.” In addition to his keyboard duties in The Experts, Rich also plays for The Terrifics, an acoustic duo based on the south shore and is the keyboard player for the Jon Finn Group.
Most recently, Rich opened his own music school known as “Southeast School of Music” in Easton, MA,
Learn more about Rich Cesarini
Selected Press Clippings:
“Finn, You Rule!”- Keith Lockhart, Conductor Boston Pops Orchestra
“One of the Hub’s hottest guitarists!”- Liza Orbach, Fox 25 News
“Jon Finn has the chops to make his music flash, but he pulls his music above the loud-guitar din.” – Mac Randall, Boston Pheonix
“Everyone has given up on how to label the genre Finn plays and records. Is it prog-rock? Is it jazz-fusion? Is it explorative instrumental rock? Who cares! It’s good” Bill Copeland, Bill Copeland Music News
“Jon Finn’s new CD entitled “Bull in a China Shop” showcases the many facets of Jon’s composing, improvisation, and musicianship. Complex arrangements complimented by lush melodic harmonies are delivered in a technically soulful way.” Robin Stone, Berklee College of Music “Open Position”
“His dazzling fretwork on ‘Don’t Look So Serious’ combines the deft picking of a virtuoso with such techniques as a personalized triplet echo style and smoth two handed work. Above all, the guy is tasty.” -Jeff Vanda, Guitar Shop Magazine