By day, Jon Simonoff is the principle music teacher of Ashland District School where he juggles everything from elementary music to high school band ensembles and all points in between.  By night and most weekends, however, Jon is a well-known and much-sought-after session bassist across Aroostook County, performing with groups such as The Presque Isle Players and the County Combo Jazz group (among many others). The Star City Syndicate was formed when Chris Morton e-mailed Jon to ask if he would be in a Motown band, and Jon said yes.  Had Jon not said yes, there would have been no Syndicate.  

In addition to creating and holding down the groove during each and every Syndicate song, Jon also writes many of the Syndicate’s arrangements and – although he consistently denies it – serves as the musical director for the group, mostly because the entire rest of the band is pretty sure Jon is the only one who knows what he’s doing.  He resides in Mapleton with his wife, fellow County Combo and Syndicate sax player Jenna Simonoff.  He, Chris, and Jenna have plans to eventually form a Reggae-Polka band on the grounds that it’s the only style of band they haven’t played with yet.