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Jon Catler

About Me

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. His book, ‘The Nature of Music’, was first published in January 2002, and is now in its 4th printing. Catler has made his microtonal fretting designs available through an exclusive deal with G&L guitars, one of America's top builders, as well as on the new FreeNote Guitars, featuring his 12-Tone Ultra Plus guitar design.