---
title: Jonathan Arons
description: Jonathan Arons, the trombonist and entertainer, artist in residence at Sarth Calhoun’s Third Wall Studio, where The Trinary Matrix is his film.
url: https://www.sarth.net/conspirators/jonathan-arons/
credit: Jonathan Arons is artist in residence at Third Wall Studio, founded by Sarth Calhoun; The Trinary Matrix (2026, 14:15), animated by Arons in Burlap and finished by the studio, is his film.
author: Sarth Calhoun
---
[Conspirators](/conspirators/) / Jonathan Arons

Conspirator

# Jonathan Arons

The dancing trombonist, artist in residence at Third Wall Studio. *The Trinary Matrix* is his film.

[Jonathan Arons](https://www.jonarons.com/) is a New York trombonist, dancer and entertainer known as the dancing trombonist, a member of the Chops Horns who has backed Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey and played in the *Dancing with the Stars* orchestra under Ray Chew; he played on the Dave Holland Big Band’s Grammy-winning *Overtime* (2005). He competed on *America’s Got Talent* in 2008 and 2025, holds degrees in jazz trombone and biochemistry from Oberlin, and wrote the memoir *Novelty Act* and *The Trinary Matrix*, a prequel to *The Matrix*. He tours with Gloria Gaynor.

[Embedded player](https://player.vimeo.com/video/1187032618?h=46e04bc8a5)

> Jonathan came in with a finished book. His own illustrations, his own story, all of it already on the page. What he needed was a way to bring it into motion without losing his hand in a pipeline. We set him up inside Burlap and showed him the canvas. He animated the book himself, scene by scene, the way a director works with a storyboard artist except he was both. We took it into post for editing, sound design, and finishing, and gave him back a film that still reads as his.
> 
> Third Wall Studio, [Process](https://www.thirdwallstudio.com/process)

## Third Wall Studio

He is an artist in residence at [Third Wall Studio](/conspiracies/third-wall-studio/), and *The Trinary Matrix*, from his book, is his film there: fourteen minutes fifteen, animated by him inside [Burlap](/conspiracies/burlap/) scene by scene, finished in post by the studio. The full film is above and on the [studio site](https://www.thirdwallstudio.com/).

The credit: Jonathan Arons is artist in residence at Third Wall Studio, founded by Sarth Calhoun; The Trinary Matrix (2026, 14:15), animated by Arons in Burlap and finished by the studio, is his film.

The profile is from public sources, linked where they appear. What we made is the record on this site and the sources cited above.