Jonny Tarr

Originally from Wales, Jonny Tarr always knew he would end up in California. He started playing the saxophone when he was 11 years old to get girls’ attention, but ended up loving the instrument. He got involved with Jazz early on and found that this was a solid foundation for understanding other genres of music. Tarr went to Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts to get his music degree and after college he toured Europe, the US, and Japan. He played nearly every major festival in the UK, as well as opened for acts such as Goldie, The Egg, Breakbeat Era, and Gil Scott Heron during the early 2000s. He was also part of the bands Part Time Heroes and The Nextmen (with whom he wrote and sang the tune “Rockets” which has over 2.5 million streams on Spotify). Tarr was one of the first people in Europe to play saxophone with House music DJs and found that he was mostly interested in music that made people dance. He soon taught himself how to play guitar and piano and used his understanding of music theory to help him start bands and create unique solo shows. On top of this, he is consistently involved with a wide range of projects as well as his own band – The Jonny Tarr Quintet. Since moving to the United States, he has opened for acts like The Victor Wooten Trio, Ozomatli, The Family Stone, and The Pink Floyd Experience, as well as shared the stage with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Bebe Winans. Jonny Tarr won the San Diego Music Award for Best Pop Artist in 2020 and headlined the NAMM show’s D’Angelico Stage 2020 with his Quintet. In 2023, Tarr released his second studio album “The Rules” for Pacific Records and was named as an official Taylor Guitars artist.