J O N L A I N E

Jon is a native of Falls Church, Virginia. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University in Virginia and a Master of Music degree from Howard University in Washington DC. He taught himself how to play drums listening to his mother's collection of records and watching metal, rap; and pop videos on MTV while emulating the drummers he watched. He wouldn’t begin classical percussion lessons until his senior year in high school. Jon was also heavily influenced in marching band and drum corps style drumming, but also played as the pit percussionist in plays and musicals. Some of his first major musical experiences were in the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Youth Ensemble, the Disneyland Collegiate All Star band, of which he beat drummers from several colleges around the country, and the Aspen Concert Jazz Ensemble.

Jon is currently touring with emcee/producer Oddisee in the band GoodCompny. Together, they have played sold out shows throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North America. In addition, they have performed at the Glastonbury festival, Sonar festival in Barcelona, Into the Great Wide Open festival in Vlieland, Holland, TD Halifax festival in Nova Scotia, Lovebox festival in the UK, and the Dour festival in Belgium.  Additionally, Jon has performed with artists including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, David Foster, Kenny G, Dionne Warwick, Maysa, Frederic Yonnet, E Faye Butler, El DeBarge, Erykah Badu, Angie Stone, Common, Robert Glasper, Talib Kweli, Steve Coleman, Meshell Ndegeocello, Dwele, Louie Bellson, Charlie Byrd, Fred Wesley, Cyrus Chestnut, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Yusef Lateef, and Omar for his Sing (if you want it) national tour. Laine has also performed at the Moers jazz festival in Germany and the Sons d'Hiver jazz festival in Paris with Steve Coleman and Opus Akoben.

Laine was the winner of Downbeat Magazine's Student Music award for Best Instrumental Soloist in 2004 for his performance of Max Roach's The Drum Also Waltzes.

Jon has been teaching private drum lessons since the mid 1990's. Some of his former students have moved on to have successful drumming careers.

Over the years Jon Laine has expanded his work to include music production. In 2007, Laine released his debut album of instrumental beats entitled “APPLE JONS”. The album is in dedication to the late producer J Dilla. APPLE JONS was released by North Carolina based company, Tasteful Licks. Laine released 4 more albums under the company before branching out on his own to put out his music.

In 2006, Jon's favorite producer, James "J Dilla" Yancey passed away from complications of Lupus. As a homage to his legacy, he started the DC LOVES DILLA tribute concert. It featured a talented line up of artists and musicians who have worked with the producer, including his own group, Slum Village. As music director, Jon put together a supreme group of musicians to create the band "the Players", named after a famous Slum Village song. As the house band, They performed as many as 30-40 songs from Dilla's collection. It continued to be an annual event for 10 years in which artists like Common, De La Soul, Bilal, The Pharcyde, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Phife, Pete Rock, Slum Village, Talib Kweli, and Robert Glasper have performed. In addition, Maureen Yancey, J Dilla's mother, was a frequent attendant to the concert. In 2012, Timothy Anne Burnside (Smithsonian curator) announced at eth 7th annual DCLD event that Dilla’s custom made Moog and MPC 3000 would be donated to the NAtional Museum os African American History and Culture. Those tools solidified Dilla as an in demand and top producer.