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Jon Catler

Jon Catler is one of the world's leading innovators on microtonal guitar. For many years, Catler's interest has been in the exploration of the "notes-between-the-notes," or microtonal music. Specifically, he has devised his own system of tuning based on Just Intonation or the pure intervals of the Harmonic Series. He has redesigned his guitar to allow an unprecedented range of consonance and dissonance, alternating between a 64-note per octave fretted guitar and a fretless.Noted for his work with legendary composer, La Monte Young, Mr. Catler can be heard as featured soloist on the Gramavision double-CD La Monte Young and the Forever Bad Blues Band. The CD has been widely reviewed (four stars in Rolling Stone) and the band has toured Europe and played Alice Tully Hall, the Kitchen, and The Knitting Factory. He has appeared as composer and performer on the Futurismo/Futurismi Festival, Manca Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Quebec Festival d'Ete, the Angelica Festival and the American Festival of Microtonal Music of which he is co-founder. Catler performed in the world premier version of Ives' Universe Symphony at Lincoln Center, a climax of AFMM's 25-year history. Catler also performed on the original Harry Partch guitars with Newband in a performance of Partch's Oedipus at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.Catler has recorded and performed throughout Europe and the U.S. with many Just Intonation groups, and can be heard on The Microtones' recording Cowpeople on the M-Tone label which features his own compositions.

As the founder of microtonal music label, FreeNote Records, Catler has released the CD ‘Crash Landing’ by the CATLER BROS., as well as BIRDHOUSE, which features some microtonal transcriptions of actual birdsong. In 2001, Catler, with the co-sponsorship of La Monte Young, premiered the World Out Of Tune (W.O.O.T.) Festival that featured performances of composers working in Nature's Harmonic Tuning system, Just Intonation. Catler has performed in Young's Raga Ensemble, playing a FreeNote Fretless Sustainer Guitar. Jon Catler's pioneering work ‘Evolution for Electric Guitar and Orchestra’ was recorded with Grammy award winning conductor Joel Thome. Jon Catler's most recent musical projects include Just Intonation blues band WILLIE McBLIND that released its 3rd CD, ‘Live Long Day’ in May 2012. The 2nd CD, ‘Bad Thing’ was one of the BEST CD'S OF 2010 in Downbeat Magazine. Catler's Just Intonation Jazz band, FRETLESS BROTHERS, released their debut CD, "Footsteps" in September 2012. A retrospective of Catler’s work with American Festival of Microtonal Music has also been released on the Pitch label.

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Multiple Reviews

Jon Catler: Sacred and Profane

Read "Jon Catler: Sacred and Profane" reviewed by Geno Thackara


On a certain fundamental level, music really comes down to math. The notes we consider normal are based on certain frequencies of sound vibration, after all, the pitches that make sense to our ears and that we find pleasing when they react in the right ways relative to each other. Jon Catler, however, is one fellow who can't resist the urge to painstakingly fine-tune the numbers. It's all in a day's exploring for a longtime LaMonte Young collaborator rooted in ...

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Performance / Tour

Fretless Brothers Bring Harmonically Tuned Jazz To Shapeshifter Lab In Brooklyn

Fretless Brothers Bring Harmonically Tuned Jazz To Shapeshifter Lab In Brooklyn

Source: Jon Catler

FreeNote Records is pleased to announce a live performance by the Fretless Brothers on Sunday, March 23rd at 8:15pm at ShapeShifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn, NY ($10). The Fretless Brothers are the world's first Harmonic Series jazz group, using specially fretted guitars to stretch the language of jazz to 36 notes per octave. The group has just released their debut CD, Footsteps, which features Jon Catler (La Monte Young) and Dane Johnson (Hangmen) on 12-Tone Ultra Plus guitars, Hansford ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ultra Minor

FreeNote Records
2018

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Devil's Dance

FreeNote Records
2018

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Live At ShapeShifter's

FreeNote Records
2016

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