Bobbie Watson & I were approached by Chicago’s Million Tongues Festival curator Steve Krakow to take part in 2020’s online event, and asked if it was possible to do anything “Comussy’. The two re-imaginings here (‘In The Lost Queen’s Eyes’ & ‘The Herald’) as the result of that brief, and these were coupled with two new songs (‘Traps’ & ‘Frayed’) that we wrote specially for the Festival.

There’s live-streamed footage of 'The Herald' on YouTube at; youtu.be/v_eEMxgzWv0. 'IOn The Lost Queen's Eyes' is at https://youtu.be/nHYE-NFUIDg and 'Traps' is at; youtu.be/LwYYXj3-Qrg

The versions here were all re-recorded specially for release.

Note to m'learned friends at Universal Music's mechanical copyright legal department: NO samples of the original recordings were used in the re-imaginings!

Buy on Bandcamp

Mortal Tongues - Bobbie Watson & Jon Seagroatt

Yearn is a 70 minute album featuring fifteen songs written by Bobbie Watson and Jon Seagroatt between 1999-2002.
The tracks on Yearn are stylistically eclectic, and range from songs that feature just voice and electric piano to some pretty hefty, large-scale arrangements.
Many of the tracks needed a bit of fleet-footed detective and DAW work to find and then extract the necessary MIDI and audio parts from now long-defunct DAWs. Once extracted, Jon re-constructed the songs from these original stems and re-mixed them. Three or four of the songs have also been polished-up with a bit of additional instrumentation, which includes the occasional furtive appearance of Jon's signature wobbly trombone playing......

For more information, please visit jonsegroatt.com/yearn

buy on Bandcamp

Two songs from 'Yearn'.

RED SQUARE is a pioneering free-improvising, avant-rock band, originally from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, that formed in 1974 and broke up in 1978, before reforming again in 2008 as a result of renewed interest in the band having been probably the first ever to take on the challenges of total free improvisation from a rock perspective.

Bridging the worlds of psychedelia, metal and avant-jazz and pre-dating the experimentation of Sonic Youth and Last Exit by a decade and The Thing by twenty five years, Red Square's railing aural assaults were once considered too extreme for commercial release.

Red Square revolves around the astonishingly original guitar playing of veteran sixties survivor, Ian Staples - tape and noise experimenter, action-painter, Grosvenor Square radical and wired denizen of the Middle Earth Club.

Not only does Staples’ iconoclastic sound palette encompass influences from delta blues and Hendrix through to Derek Bailey and Stockhausen, but a mongrel-blues strain of Trout Mask-inspired DNA courses virulently through every line he plays.

The Red Square line up is completed by Jon Seagroatt, (woodwind and electronics), member of the legendary psych-folk band Comus, and drummer Roger Telford.

Red Square continue to deliver free-form avant-metal through very big speakers with undiminished enthusiasm.

Red Square (1972-8), (2008 onwards)

‘Deathless’, is a vinyl album length collaboration between Jon Seagroatt, Ian Staples and Bobbie Watson. The project draws its sonic fingerprint from a signature mix of extended instrumental techniques, digitally processed reeds, slide guitars, electronics, iPad apps, sample manipulation, drones and disrupted song.

‘Deathless’ has a narrative and structural framework based on the legend of the Minotaur, as refracted through the prism of Steven Sherrill’s novel ’The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break’.
In Sherrill’s re-imagining of the myth, the Minotaur is not killed in the Labyrinth by Theseus, but escapes to wander the world as a mendicant immortal.
Setting his novel in the late twentieth century, Sherrill has the Minotaur living in a trailer park, and working as a short-order chef in a southern USA roadside diner.

The novel is a poetic meditation on ageing and memory, passion and redemption.


Bandcamp

Four tracks from 'Deathless' (2013)

Glow

Lodestar

These are two short recordings of a pipistrelle bat roost awakening at dusk, with the colony members communicating with one another. The roost is at a site in Oxfordshire, UK.

Image by Drahkrub - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8802172

Pipistrelle bats awakening in the roost, Oxfordshire (1)

Pipistrelle bats awakening in the roost, Oxfordshire (2)

Some while ago I downloaded ‘Chordbot’, an app that allows you to create chord sequences. I experimented with it for a time, with the idea of using it to practice changes and playing across extended chord voicings.
I recently came across one of the first things I did when I was learning how to program the app; a nice simple chord sequence laced with vapour-trails of tenor sax.
At the time of recording, I was focused on the app and its workings, and didn’t pay a lot of attention to what I’d recorded in a musical sense, but listening back, it’s actually quite a decent three and a half minutes worth in its own right, so I did a bit of Logic jiggery-pokery and loop manipulation  to improve the sightly rinky-tink sound quality of the original Chordbot voices, and here's the result.
'Tenor Sax & Chordbot' is free to download on Bandcamp (see link above).

Free download

Tenor sax & Chordbot app

The thirteenth and final track from the 'Deathless' sequence, featuring Bobbie Watson on vocals.

Consolation Of Eternity

First track from the Drift album 'Heterotopia'.
Drift features Bobbie Watson from Comus on vocals, Rich Hamel on guitars and Jon Seagroatt on bass and keys.
The Drift myspace is at: www.myspace.com/drifteurope.
Heterotopia is available for download at: http://drift2.bandcamp.com


Compass from the Drift album 'Heterotopia' (feat. Bobbie Watson)

Forth track from the Drift album 'Heterotopia'.........

Good Sleep from the Drift album 'Heterotopia' (feat. Bobbie Watson)

A live recording of Circuit electro-acoustic ensemble, featuring Jon Seagroatt (soprano sax, bass clarinet and granular synthesis), Pat Thomas (keyboard) & Trevor Taylor (electronic percussion).
This track forms part of the FMR Records album 'Pyro', to be released next month.

Live at the Oxford Improvisors from the album 'Pyro' by Circuit (FMR Records)

An outing from the Colins Of Paradise (me, Bobbie Watson, Ryan Bradshaw [bass] and Lee Smith [drums]. 

Dreamlike by the Colins Of Paradise (feat. Bobbie Watson)

Another outing by the late Colins Of Paradise (me, Bobbie Watson, Ryan Bradshaw & Lee Smith).
A heavy (and lengthy) production job...........!

Save Me by the Colins Of Paradise (feat. Bobbie Watson)

Testing a baritone sax with a tenor reed........
The full backstory is here: https://jonseagroatt.com/2016/08/16/encounters-with-the-big-hooter/

E Dorian + @100bpm_Baritone_Rico 3H_Otto Link

A recording from 1974 that appears on the 2008 FMR 'retrospective' album 'Thirty Three'

Paramusic 3 (1974)

Shuttle Bag (2009)

A track from our 2010 album 'UnReason: live at the Vortex'.

Soap-Pump (2010)

Title track from our 2012 album 'Bird Haus'.

Bird Haus (2012)

A 1996 side project of Omlo Vent & B So glObal for myself and Ian Staples. As Miramar we released 'Test Tunes', a 4-track 12" single, on Dave Ellesmere's Emergency Broadcast imprint. 

Miramar by Miramar

This is the first track from the new Comus album 'Out Of The Coma', the band's first since 1973. As well as playing percussion, flute, soprano sax and sundry other woodwinds, I also produced the album.

Out Of The Coma by Comus

This is another demo I made of a tune I wrote for a now defunct band, outlining the head, solo section and song structure for the other players.
The tune itself is straightforward enough, though for there's a leap of a minor 9th from mid F# to altissimo G to keep tenor players (like me) on their toes.

This 'demo' track is freely downloadable (see 'more' above).
If you’d like to try playing Solaar yourself, you can download a ‘playalong pack' for free from the Bandcamp link above.

Each pack consists of:

the guide track (with guide sax)
the ‘minus one’ (no sax) backing track
a track of the solo section looped (repeated) four times for soloing practise
a single solo section for use in DAWs and looper apps & pedals
printable lead sheets in Bb, Eb & C versions, (including scale choice suggestions for the solo sections).

For background and more info, please see: https://jonseagroatt.com/downloadable-backing-tracks

Solaar

Solaar (downloadable)

This is a demo I made of a tune I wrote for a now defunct band, outlining the head, solo section and song structure for the other players.
The tune itself is fairly straightforward, though there are some triplet runs that need a bit of care, and for tenor players (like me) there’s a bit of left-hand palm key work to keep tidy. Fortunately for alto players, their lead-sheet is written a fourth lower!

This demo track is freely downloadable (see 'more' above).
If you’d like to try playing Shorter Straws yourself, you can download a ‘playalong pack' for free from the Bandcamp link above.

Each pack consists of:

the guide track (with guide sax)
the ‘minus one’ (no sax) backing track
a track of the solo section looped (repeated) four times for soloing practise
a single solo section for use in DAWs and looper apps & pedals
printable lead sheets in Bb, Eb & C versions, (including scale choice suggestions for the solo sections).

For background info please see: jonseagroatt.com/downloadable-backing-tracks

Shorter Straws (downloadable)

This is a demo I made of a tune I wrote for a now defunct band, outlining the head, solo section and song structure for the other players. After the 4/4 intro section, the tune is in 6/8 time.

This demo track is freely downloadable (see 'more' above).
If you’d like to try playing Paper Cut yourself, you can download a ‘playalong pack' for free from the Bandcamp link above.

Each pack consists of:

the guide track (with guide sax)
the ‘minus one’ (no sax) backing track
a track of the solo section looped (repeated) four times for soloing practise
a single solo section for use in DAWs and looper apps & pedals
printable lead sheets in Bb, Eb & C versions, (including scale choice suggestions for the solo sections).

For background info please see: jonseagroatt.com/downloadable-backing-tracks

Paper Cut (downloadable)

This is a demo I made of a tune I wrote for a now defunct band, outlining the head, solo section and song structure for the other players.
The tune itself is straightforward enough, though for tenor players (like me) there’s a bit of left-hand palm key work to keep tidy!
This demo track is freely downloadable (see 'more' above).
If you’d like to try playing 3 Limes On A Shelf yourself, you can download a ‘playalong pack' for free from the Bandcamp link above.

Each pack consists of:

the guide track (with guide sax)
the ‘minus one’ (no sax) backing track
a track of the solo section looped (repeated) four times for soloing practise
a single solo section for use in DAWs and looper apps & pedals
the lead sheet in Bb, Eb & C versions, (including scale choice suggestions for the solo sections).

For background info please see: jonseagroatt.com/downloadable-backing-tracks

3 Limes On A Shelf (downloadable)

This is a another demo I made of a tune I wrote for a now defunct band, outlining the head, solo section and song structure for the other players.
Old Skool is short and sweet. For tenor players there's a bit of high-note excitement to contend with!
This demo track is freely downloadable (see 'more' above).
If you’d like to try playing Old Skool yourself, you can download a ‘playalong pack' for free from the Bandcamp link above.

Each pack consists of:

the guide track (with guide sax)
the ‘minus one’ (no sax) backing track
a track of the solo section looped (repeated) four times for soloing practise
a single solo section for use in DAWs and looper apps & pedals
the lead sheet in Bb, Eb & C versions, (including scale choice suggestions for the solo sections).

For background info please see: jonseagroatt.com/downloadable-backing-tracks

Old Skool (downloadable)

In flight from Knossos (its teeming streets labyrinthine) the Minotaur sings a great lament.

The Minotaur, his heart racing, recognises the Labyrinth. Leans forward, clicks 'like'.

Daidalos fashions one automaton and later, one labyrinth.

opening; Asterion; Horns' Cradle (song with drones).

This is a demo I made of a tune I wrote for a now defunct band, outlining the head, solo section and song structure for the other players. 

This demo track is freely downloadable (see 'more' above).
If you’d like to try playing Swam In The Moon yourself, you can download a ‘playalong pack' for free from the Bandcamp link above.

Each pack consists of:

the guide track (with guide sax)
the ‘minus one’ (no sax) backing track
a track of the solo section looped (repeated) four times for soloing practise
a single solo section for use in DAWs and looper apps & pedals
printable lead sheets in Bb, Eb & C versions, (including scale choice suggestions for the solo sections).

For background info please see: jonseagroatt.com/downloadable-backing-tracks

Swam In The Moon (downloadable)

Bobbie Watson & Jon Seagroatt were approached by Chicago’s Million Tongues Festival curator Steve Krakow to take part in 2020’s online event, and asked if it was possible to do anything “Comussy’. The two re-imaginings here (‘In The Lost Queen’s Eyes’ & ‘The Herald’) as the result of that brief, and these were coupled with two new songs (‘Traps’ & ‘Frayed’) that were written specially for the Festival.

There’s live-streamed footage of 'The Herald' on YouTube at; youtu.be/v_eEMxgzWv0, and 'Traps' is at; youtu.be/LwYYXj3-Qrg

The versions here were all re-recorded specially for release.

Note to m'learned friends at Universal Music's mechanical copyright legal department: NO samples of the original recordings were used in the re-imaginings!

Traps

In The Lost Queen's Eyes by Comus, sung by Bobbie Watson (2020)

The Herald by Comus, sung by Bobbie Watson (2020)

Frayed

A couple of years ago, I got a bit fed up with the whole ‘24/7’ self-promotion / social media content-provider web presence fandango one was supposed to be engaged in as a musician, and decided to duck out for a while and pull together something more localised and time-manageable.

I had a set of material for which I had never really found a good home in other projects, and I decided to rejig these tunes a little to suit the following carefully limited specification;

 1   Suitable for a jazz-based four or five piece band with sax, guitar, keys, bass, drums.
 2   Approachable enough to attract a small, regular audience to an upstairs room in a Midlands market town boozer on a wet Wednesday evening.
3    Easily memorable tunes that could pass the ‘whistle test’ for an audience to pick up on.
4    Easily understandable structures for an audience (and the band!) to grasp (usually head, head, solos, head – the classic jazz formula).
5    Solo sections that move through key-changes to add a dash of high-wire thrillz for the soloists.

So nothing wildly ambitious. This was to be – to paraphrase the League of Gentlemen – a local band for local people.

I recorded a set of demos for the band consisting of sax, bass, keys & drum loops, scored the accompanying lead-sheets (tunes, chords, song structures), recruited a clutch of excellent musicians from around the region and set to work.

Anywaaay……

To cut a too long story very short, there actually didn’t seem to be any upstairs rooms in any Midlands market town boozers interested in a local band playing jazz-based material for local people on a wet Wednesday evening…..so, inevitably, the band folded.

The Beat Combo - Sparkle

The Beat Combo - Swam in the Moon

The Beat Combo - Old Skool

The Beat Combo - Bat, Bear or Tiny King

Chris Hills - tabla
Jon Seagroatt - saxes, basses, organs

This is a segue of a number of the improvisations that tabla player Chris Hills & I recorded in 2019. All of the pieces started with just tabla and sax. I added the organs and / or basses later. 
The tonal centre of each section is set by the tuning note chosen by Chris for the dayan.
Though Chris is trained in classical Indian playing, I was keen not to fall into 'faux Asianisms' (footling around harmonic minor modes etc.). Instead I concentrated on interweaving my own timbral, rhythmic and stylistic devices into Chris' patterns and thekha.

tabla & saxophone with Chris Hills (segue 1)

Jon Seagroatt plays variously bass, flute, soprano & tenor saxes, bass clarinet, percussion, keyboards, electronics and the occasional bit of wobbly trombone with a variety of ensembles and groups that have included Comus, Current 93, Red Square, B So glObal & Circuit.
He also works as a session player, recording engineer and producer. In one or another of the above guises, Jon has toured, recorded and performed in Britain, Europe and the Far East.

Jon Seagroatt

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