I sat down with Aron to talk about his journey through jazz, songwriting, and the intersection between tradition and modern music. We talked about his influences, creative process, and the complexities of finding his place in a music world that both reveres tradition and demands innovation.
The ARON! Soundcheck
From Guitar Hero to Jazz Arranger
Aron’s journey into music didn’t begin in a conservatory or with a family full of musicians. It started, as all great origin stories do, with Guitar Hero. “I started playing guitar at eight because I loved Guitar Hero,” he laughs. His parents, though not musicians themselves, encouraged his interest and got him lessons in rock guitar. That might have been the end of it - just another kid learning power chords - until he met Stan Jacques.
“Stan was this old jazz guitarist, maybe 80, who lived alone in a messy house with papers everywhere. I’d go over on school nights and stay until midnight. He taught me jazz, but he also told me stories. Some of them were insane, some probably not true, but they all shaped me.”
Jazz quickly took over his life. After discovering Julie London’s Cry Me a River, he wanted to play the song on guitar but couldn’t find a singer to perform it with him. “So I just sang it myself,” he says, almost dismissively. But that moment changed everything. He started listening obsessively to Sinatra, then big band music, and by high school, he was writing his own arrangements.
“I wanted to sing with my school’s big band, but they didn’t have vocal charts. So I just… made them.” With the help of Nelson Riddle’s arranging book and hours spent dissecting Count Basie charts, he taught himself how to orchestrate for an entire band. “That was my way in - if I wanted to be part of it, I had to build it myself.”
Collaborations and Band Dynamics
Beyond his solo work, Aron has been an active collaborator. He co-founded Sunny Side Up, an indie band with a jazz-infused sound, and was also part of Buko Boys, a project that allowed him to explore different musical directions.
“When we started Sunny Side Up, I was the one bringing in charts and handling most of the logistics,” Aron explains. “But as we grew, we found a balance—now we delegate. I still write a lot, but everyone contributes, which keeps it fresh.”
Balancing band projects with his solo career has been a challenge, especially since moving to London. “It’s tough because half the band isn’t here, so I have to focus more on my own stuff. But when we do come together, it’s magic.”
Some collaborations happen more organically. “With Katerina Lomis, we were just hanging out and decided to write a song. It wasn’t planned, but that’s what makes it exciting. Other times, you go into a session knowing you’re going to co-write, and you treat it like a job.”
A Return to Jazz and the Modern Audience
Aron’s musical journey has come full circle. He started with jazz, explored different genres like Motown and indie, but ultimately, jazz remained his foundation. His recent surge in popularity has come from a unique approach - reinterpreting 1940s-style jazz ballads with contemporary, often humorous, lyrics.
“People seem to really connect with it,” he says. “It’s like, the world wasn’t ready before, but now it is.”
However, he’s careful to acknowledge where he stands within the jazz world. “A lot of what I do isn’t jazz in the traditional sense. It leans more towards mid-century pop, like what Sinatra did—collaborating with jazz musicians but presenting it in a structured, polished way.”
QUICK DIVE: Mid-Century Pop vs. Jazz
The distinction between jazz and mid-century pop has always been blurry. While jazz purists often see improvisation and harmonic complexity as defining features, mid-century pop - think Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and early Tony Bennett—was a more structured, vocal-driven style. Many of these artists worked closely with jazz musicians, blurring the lines between genres.
Sinatra, for instance, performed with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, but much of his work was arranged, rather than improvised. The melodies were strong, the lyrics conversational, and the groove often leaned toward swing rather than hard-hitting bebop.
Today, artists like Aron (and Laufey, and even Silk Sonic in their own way) are bringing mid-century aesthetics into contemporary music. The question remains: does honoring these sounds make an artist a jazz musician or simply a great interpreter of classic pop? As Aron puts it, the boundaries are constantly shifting.
Influences: Crafting a Unique Sound
Aron’s influences span decades and genres, shaping the distinctive way he approaches music. “I almost exclusively listen to a very small set of artists,” he admits. One of those artists is Frank Sinatra, but not all Sinatra. “I don’t really like My Way or New York, New York - but Sinatra in the ‘40s and ‘50s? That’s magic.”
Alongside Sinatra, Bob Dylan plays a key role in his inspiration. “If I could find a way to fuse Sinatra’s phrasing with Dylan’s raw storytelling, that’d be the dream.”
He’s also deeply influenced by John Mayer, something that became clear even before we spoke. Before I knew it was Aron, I found myself texting an unknown American number on WhatsApp with John Mayer as the profile picture. A moment of confusion, and then: ‘Oh. This must be Aron.’ Aron laughs when I bring this up. “Manifesting, I guess.”
Other key influences include Kimbra, Theo Katzman, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Remi Wolf, and Erykah Badu. “I think some of the coolest productions in jazz-adjacent R&B are being made by women,” he adds. “Remi Wolf’s production is unreal.”
Living, Then Writing: A Process of Reflection
When it comes to songwriting, Aron works in bursts. “I can go months without writing, then suddenly crank out five songs in a week. I don’t always know if they’re good until I listen back later.”
This stop-and-go process ties into something deeper - his ability to access emotions. “I have to really sit with myself, close my eyes, and ask, Am I at ease? And if the answer is no, I dive into that feeling.”
One challenge he faces? Being fully vulnerable. “All my songs have a little joke in them. Even the sad ones. It’s weird - I struggle to write something raw without making it cheeky. Maybe that’s a defense mechanism. I’d like to break through that.”
The Pressure of an Audience: Managing 160,000 People
Before March last year, Aron had 5,000 followers. Now, over 160,000. “It’s surreal,” he says. “And weird. Nothing about me changed. I didn’t suddenly become better. But now I have access to different spaces.”
One of those spaces was the inbox of Munir Hossn, one of his musical heroes. “I just DM’d him, said I loved his music, and sent him a video of me playing one of his songs. He was like, ‘Come over, let’s write together.’”
For now, he’s embracing the ride - one song, one connection, one moment at a time.
ARTIST’s TOOLKIT: Aron's Harmonic Approach
One of the defining elements of Aron's harmonic language is his love for half-diminished chords and their relationship with dominant 7♭5 chords.
“I like half-diminished chords and how they feel against dominant 7♭5 chords,” Aron explains. “It’s about making different melodies from these shapes - it’s an impressionism thing, like Ravel or Debussy.”
By combining half-diminished and dominant 7♭5 chords in unique and semi-random ways, Aron creates harmonic landscapes that feel both structured and spontaneous. “There’s a kind of unpredictability to it,” he says. “It lets you explore new harmonic colors that feel fresh every time.”
This approach draws on impressionist composers who used harmonic ambiguity to evoke mood rather than strict resolution. For Aron, it’s about letting these voicings lead the melody in unexpected directions, keeping his compositions fluid and expressive.