John Shannon is a guitarist and composer from Pittsburgh, PA who began playing guitar at age 6. After working professionally during high school and studying music with masters of other instruments, namely bassist Dwayne Dolphin, saxophonist Eric Kloss and pipe organist Mike Ross, he went on to Berklee College of Music where he further studied the guitar with 6 string luminaries Mick Goodrick and Wayne Krantz. During this time John formed group Waking Vision Trio and began touring Europe to much critical acclaim. Living in New York City, John performed as a free-lance guitarist and collaborator across genres for many different unique artists such as Hiromi, Gary Go, Karsh Kale, Bob Reynolds, Pyeng Threadgill and Norbert Leo Butz. Also while in NYC, John recorded three records of his own with revered indie-jazz label ObliqSound. These albums featured his ethereal songwriting along with unique guitar tunings and original finger style tapestry techniques. Switching gears and leaving NYC for Australia to play the character of 1950s NYC street performer Moondog in a rock’n’roll circus, John entered a period of studying “shredder” guitar players of the 80s and embracing front man antics on stage. This energy led to the formation of power-rock-trio theSHIFT back in the states which saw the release of an acclaimed EP, a period of relentless touring and a hit song on mainstream radio in Peru. By 2019 choosing to take a break from the road and back in Pittsburgh, John became inspired learning more about the deep jazz legacy of where he grew up and partnered with a chef and beverage director to open up jazz club Con Alma in the city of Pittsburgh where he is now co-owner and music curator. Being immersed in the jazz world again allowed him to go to back to his roots of playing and studying straight ahead jazz music. From there the focus on original jazz compositions led to signing a record deal with JazzBook Records in France. John Shannon’s upcoming record “A Day in Tarifa” is set for release in early Summer ’25.