DON HEITLER earned three degrees from the University of Illinois. Early in his playing career, he worked in Scottsdale, AZ, at Las Vegas in various hotels such as the Sahara and Tropicana, and in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Playboy Club. He then moved to New York City where for several years he played at the Hotel Pierre, The Plaza Hotel and the Waldorf Astoria. While in New York, he recorded with Urbie Green and George Shearing. He then returned to Urbana-Champaign, home of the University of Illinois where he plays regularly at jazz clubs as well as at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. He has appeared in Springfield and Chicago several times. He performed for the Chicago Jazz Festival in 2008.