The Company
The Tuning the Air Company
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Bob Williams Bob Williams grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. He began playing guitar at the age of 12, and played in various rock bands in the Annapolis area through his teens and early twenties. In 1985, he attended his first Guitar Craft course and since that time has been involved in several groups with other Guitar Craft musicians, including Chapter Two, The New York Guitar Project, The Wilsons, the League of Crafty Guitarists, and the Atomic Chamber Ensemble. Bob has recorded a solo CD, Falling West. |
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Chris Gibson Chris Gibson was born in Sunnyside, Washington, on August 31, 1971. He was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, until 1993, and then moved back to Washington with the progressive rock band Continuum. Continuum dis-banded in 1994, and left with no real musical outlet, Chris began studying jazz guitar and enrolled at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1997. At the same time, he began attending Guitar Craft courses, and in 1998, he began studying with Curt Golden. Over the past ten years, Chris has been a member of The Atomic Chamber Ensemble, The League of Crafty Guitarists, and Lost Pedro performance groups, and he is actively involved in Seattle Circle. He is married to Meleah Gibson, the Tuning the Air lighting technician and designer. |
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Curt Golden Curt Golden is a guitarist and guitar instructor. Curt was born and raised in Virginia into a family that believed in a musical education, and he was given lessons in piano, violin, and cello. Curt first picked up the guitar at the age of 11, and it quickly became his life’s passion. From 1973 to 1976, he studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After graduating, Curt played in a number of rock, blues, and jazz bands. In 1985, Curt attended the first Guitar Craft seminar, presented by guitarist Robert Fripp, and went on to record and tour extensively with the League of Crafty Guitarists. Fripp named Curt a Guitar Craft instructor in 1986. Curt then taught guitar and performed with a number of groups in New York City, including the rock band Desperate Measures. Curt moved to Seattle in 1998 to join the emerging Seattle Guitar Circle, and in 2001, he co-founded Seattle Circle, the not-for-profit organization created to support the group’s growing performance and educational efforts. In December 2004, he participated in a small performance in the Seattle Circle Performance Studio, and this performance inspired the creation of a location-based production of ensemble guitar music to be performed “in the round.” Curt, Frank Sheldon, and Jaxie Binder joined together as the producers of this new entity, a group of guitarists quickly came together to realize this vision, and from those efforts Tuning the Air was born. |
Greg Meredith Greg is a mathematician who pays for his math habit by working in computing and biology. He is the father of Lylli Katrina, Maxwell Milan, Naomi Kai, and Lucius Gabriel, and husband to Stani Meredith. He studied mathematics and computing at Imperial College and Oberlin College (where he also took an occasional lesson with lutist Mike Mandarin); he also studied West African drumming under Mapathe Diop. Greg is undertaking to break his musical habits. |
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Howard Snyder Howard was born and raised in Mexico City. He and his wife, Diana, moved to the U.S. in January 1999, and they have lived in Seattle since May 2004. Howard has been playing and performing the guitar since April 2001, and in 2003, he performed and recorded with The League of Crafty Guitarists in Atlanta. Howard currently is involved with Tuning the Air and Lost Pedro with fellow guitarists Chris Gibson and Travis Metcalf. |
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Ian Bessler Ian Bessler comes to Seattle from the Cincinnati, Ohio area. He played alto saxophone in school concert and marching bands, but eventually gave up the saxophone in favor of the guitar. After high school, Ian played in assorted rock bands around Bloomington, Indiana, and Indianapolis. He attended his first Guitar Craft course in 2000; before moving to Seattle, Ian spent several years playing NST guitar with guitar circles in the Cincinnati and Chicago areas. In Seattle, Ian plays guitar in the House Circle and works with the House Team in support of Tuning the Air. |
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Igor Abuladze Igor Abuladze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, a republic of the former Soviet Union. He began studying guitar at the age of 14. After graduating from the Georgian Theatrical Institute in 1982, he worked as an actor, but soon abandoned his acting career, and became a touring musician. In 1991, he immigrated to California where he pursued a number of musical projects, including the power trio Drug, a project called Zarb'zan, the Geary Street Quartet, and a guitar trio known as Zesty Enterprise, which still performs from time to time. In 1996, Igor attended his first NST Weekend. Seven years later, in 2003, he attended the Level Three Guitar Craft course in Atlanta, and performed as a member of the League Of Crafty Guitarists for their 2004 West Coast tour. Igor moved to Seattle in 2006 and promptly joined the Tuning the Air Performance Team. He also currently teaches guitar and bass at Seattle Drum School, and plays around town with Katherine Moore Situation and Supermodelumberjack. |
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Igor Koloyartsev Igor attended his first GC course in 2003. He currently works on the Tuning the Air House Team and handles organizational aspects of the Monthly Open Circle. Igor also plays guitar with the House Circle. |
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Jaxie Binder In 1997, Jaxie packed her bags in New York City and moved to Seattle to be part of the nascent vision that has evolved into Tuning the Air. With a husband (also a performer with Tuning the Air), a baby, and guitar in tow, she knew this was the place she and her family needed to be. Jaxie played violin as a child, and although she doesn’t play much any more, she identifies the violin as her native musical language. She began playing and studying jazz guitar as a young adult when a friend gave her a vintage Fender Duosonic. In 1990, after many years of searching for a way of approaching music, she found what she was looking for on her first Guitar Craft course. In 1994, she formed the Wilsons with Bob Williams, and shortly thereafter, The Wilson 5 with an international cast of characters. The Atomic Chamber Ensemble formed shortly after Jaxie arrived in Seattle, and the group enjoyed a successful run of performances in and around the area. Among other things, Jaxie is the proud mother of two spirited daughters. |
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Mary Beth Abel Mary Beth—a native of South Carolina and a former resident of Rhode Island—arrived in Seattle from Boston in late 2007 coming here to be supported by and to support Seattle Circle and Tuning the Air. In that spirit, she is a member of the House Team and this season’s House Manager. She plays regularly with the House Circle, a practice group within Seattle Circle. In Boston, Mary Beth was a member of the New England Guitar Circle (NEGC). In 2006, she directed and choreographed a performance with NEGC that combined dance and guitar. She began taking Guitar Craft courses in 2003. Her first guitar lesson was in 2002. |
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Meleah Gibson A Seattle native, Meleah became involved with Guitar Craft and Seattle Circle eight years ago through her husband, Chris. She is now expanding her passion for painting by "coloring the air" as the lighting technician and designer for the Tuning the Air performance series. |
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Taylor Sherman Taylor Sherman, a Seattle native, has been playing music for the better part of the last two decades. Over the years, Taylor has performed and recorded with several bands, including Hunt The Wumpus, Rosyvelt, Steve Ball, and the League of Crafty Guitarists. Beginning as a bass guitarist, then spending a few years playing the Chapman Stick, Taylor now focuses on acoustic guitar using Guitar Craft Standard Tuning (also known as New Standard Tuning, or NST). He attended his first Guitar Craft course in 2000, and has since participated in many more courses and workshops in the U.S., Italy, Spain, and Argentina. He's also been known to dabble with harmonic singing when no one else is around. |
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Travis Metcalf A Portland, Oregon native and guitar player of over 20 years, Travis Metcalf moved to Seattle in 2000 to work with the Seattle Guitar Circle. Since coming to Seattle, Travis has played in diverse musical styles—acoustic pop to ambient electronica—with a wide range of groups, including Tiger Zane, Tim Root’s Handy Metal Mart, The Atomic Chamber Ensemble, Electrochakra, and The League of Crafty Guitarists. Along with being a guitarist in Tuning the Air, Travis currently performs and records with Lost Pedro and The Solaris Project. |
