Jonathan Segel

Jonathan Segel
Background information
Born September 3, 1963
Genres Alternative rock, pop rock, rock, progressive rock, blues, improv, avant-garde, electronica
Occupation(s) Musician, Songwriter, Composer, Record Producer
Instruments Guitar, Violin, Mandolin, Keyboards, Voice
Years active 1983–present
Associated acts Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, Dieselhed

Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.

Biography

Born in Marseilles, France, Segel grew up in Davis, California and Tucson, Arizona. He is the son of Irwin H. Segel, a Professor of Biochemistry at University of California, Davis and author of Biochemical Calculations, and Wiltraud Pfeiffer, a Professor of Microbiology at University of California, Davis. He went to college at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he studied under Peter Elsea and experimental music pioneer Gordon Mumma. In Santa Cruz he joined the indie rock group Camper Van Beethoven, with whom he played from 1984 to 1989 and 1999 onward.

He moved to San Francisco in 1989, where he worked with many bands including his own Hieronymus Firebrain and Jack & Jill, moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to work for Dane Davis at Danetracks, a film sound post production facility, then back to Oakland, California in 2001, where received a master's degree in music composition at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Joelle Leandre. Segel has taught music theory and electronic music at the College of Marin and Ohlone College in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2012 Segel moved to Stockholm, Sweden with his wife and daughter. His father and brother currently live in Davis, California. Segel has two nephews and one niece.

He performs improvising acoustic and digital solo (or with others as Chaos Butterfly), in the revived Camper Van Beethoven, as the bandleader in his eponymous band, and is an occasional contributor to music from the Big City Orchestra. Segel currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden where he has most recently collaborated with the experimental improvised band The Muffin Ensemble.

His name is commonly misspelled as "Jonathan Segal".

Discography

A comprehensive Segel Discography can be found here and there on the Magnetic Records site.

Solo, as Hieronymus Firebrain or Jack & Jill

Playing guitar, singing, etc.

With Camper Van Beethoven

Playing violin, guitar, keyboards, singing.

With Eugene Chadbourne

Playing violin, mandolin, slide guitar, keyboards, toys...

With Chaos Butterfly

Electronic/electro-acoustic Projects

Improvisations

Other Projects

Playing violin, guitar.

Also Appears On

Film Soundtracks

References

    External links