Gaia Consort
Gaia (Gaea) 'guy-uh': 1) The Greek Earth Goddess and Mother of the Titans 2) The autopoietic superorganism that is the living biosphere
consort:'kan-soert: 1) one who shares a common lot 2) a ship accompanying another
3) spouse / lover 4) to make harmony
5) a group of singers or instrumentalists performing together
Imagine a mash-up between Peter Gabriel’s So, Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick, The Moody Blues Threshold of a Dream and the Grateful Dead’s Blue’s For Allah. Gaia Consort sounds like a movie sound track for the gathering of the tribes. Start with a serious groove, add intelligent lyrics about evolution, sensuality, engaging the natural world, tight vocal harmonies ala Crosby Stills and Nash and then throw in a string trio.
Christopher Bingham and Sue Tinney got themselves booked into Nudestock 97 and announced the new name, played some of the new stuff, and the crowd was on it’s feet when they finished playing.
Christopher Bingham and Sue Tinney got themselves booked into Nudestock 97, announced the new name, and just kept going, 1999, 2001 and 2004 saw the release of Gaia Circles, Secret Voices and Evolve and with each cd, an increase in the complexity and texture of Bingham’s writing, especially for the string trio, now fully integrated into the overall sound of the Consort. All of Gaia Consort’s cds found critical acclaim in the major Pagan magazines and a fair number of “mainstream” music journals as well.
Their next CD, Vitus Dance, (released July 2007) continues Bingham’s musical and philosphical explorations within the framework of an expanding Gaian Culture. Friends and fans donated over $16,000 by “adopting” songs to help the Consort record the disc. Their cds are as much a product of a supportive community they are an individual vision.
Backing Bingham and Tinney are some of the Pacific Northwest’s finest musicians. Gaia Consort’s current line up includes Larry Golding violin, Sunnie Reed viola, TJ Morris drums, Jay Kenney, keyboards, Betsy Tinney, cello, and Dan Mohler on bass. Guests on Vitus Dance include SJ Tucker on backing vocals, Felicia Dale on hurdy gurdy, Eliot Grasso on ulliean pipes, Seattle Symphony cellist Roberta Downey and Trillian Green flautist Ben Klein
Gaia Consort has never been about making it big in the music “industry.” If it’s not happmeing between people, it’s not a Gaia Consort experience. Eschewing the usual venues of clubs and coffee houses, the Consort has managed to quietly build an audience that fills rooms, playing house concerts and self-produced shows in halls around the Pacific Northwest, the continental US and Canda. They’ve built enough of a following to have been invited to play a variety of festivals and events, including headlining Faerieworlds in Eugene Oregon three years in a row and routinely filling the 400 seat Meydenbauer Center at home in Redmond, WA.
Christopher Bingham’s crystal clear tenor used to get compared to David Crosby but lately it's been Bare Naked Ladies and Dave Matthews. And watch out for his guitar work – think Bruce Cockburn meets Ian Anderson, fluid from one rhythm to the next.
Bingham left his hometown of St. Louis to study jazz at The Evergreen State College in Olympia in 1979, fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and stayed. Before starting Gaia Consort he released Always the Sirens (cassette, 1987) The Burning (1993) and Angel and the Hanged Man (1995) Several cuts on all CDs have received airplay on a number of college and commercial radio stations across the US, Europe and Australia.
Sue Tinney's voice is like a lover's soft lips nibbling your earlobe while telling you the bed is on fire and what are you going to do about it? She has a special gift for picking out the perfect harmony line. She’s been singing alto parts all her life and it shows. She’s also co-produced four of Bingham’s Suddenly Naked releases. Growing up literally in the Olympic National park, (Kalaloch and the Hoh river valley) the spirit of the rainforest is imbued in all
her work.
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