Tim Davies Bio
Grammy nominated Composer, Arranger and Band Leader Tim Davies first dreamt of leading his own big band when he was twelve, inspired by a cassette of Australia’s Daly-Wilson Big Band—a dream realized in 1998 when he formed his first band in Melbourne, Australia. Although only having a short run before he moved to the US, it made quite an impact. Since 2000, Davies has based his big band in Los Angeles, featuring top session and touring players the band's first record, Epic, was released in 2002 and a new album, Dialmentia, came out in May 2009. Grounded in the traditional, his music adds elements of classical, rock, metal and hip hop, creating a blend that is truly unique. Davies' big band music is now played all over the world and he is often commissioned. In 2009 Davies' writing was recognized with a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition for the piece Counting to Infinitiy.
When not writing for or leading the band, Davies has found his niche working as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor in Hollywood. With the assistance of several grants, Davies moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to study at the University of Southern California. His first professional break came after a lesson with band leader and arranger John Clayton. Clayton invited Davies to assist him for 3 years while he was Director of Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl. In his time with Clayton Davies did orchestrations and transcriptions for concerts featuring the who's who of the jazz world. Artists included Jimmy Smith, Dave Brubeck, Nancy Wilson, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson and Take 6. He also did transcriptions and arrangements for tributes to Johnny Mandel, Neal Hefti and Quincy Jones and worked on albums for Natalie Cole, Diana Krall and Michael Buble. In the years since, Davies has gone on to arrange and orchestrate for many albums and live concerts featuring the likes of Joan Osborn, Rachel York, Jim Bianco, Colin Hay, Tunde Baiyewu (Lighthouse Family), Jamie Cullum, Queen Latifah, Sarah Bareilles, Salaam Remi, Cee-lo Green (Gnarls Barkley), Liza Minnelli, Jon Faddis, Chaka Khan, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Metrople Orchestra in the Netherlands.
In addition to his jazz work, a large part of his time is spent orchestrating and arranging music for Film and Television. Recent orchestration highlights include the TV shows Pushing Daisies, Glee, The Event and No Ordinary Family and the films Death Race, Australia, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Wolfman and Sex and the City 2. Davies skills are also in demand in the relatively new world of orchestral scores for video games. Credits include God of War 2 & 3, Prototype, Resistance 2&3. Infamous 1&2 and Batman: Arkham City. Known for his string writing, he is often commissioned to write textural/ambient music for which he has coined the term Symphonic Sound Design. An explanation and examples can be found here. He has also composed music for advertising which has been used most recently in the trailers for The Crazies, The Expendables and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Recently Davies has become in demand as a conductor. He has conducted most of the above mentioned film, TV and game projects along with many other sessions including projects for Steve Jablonsky (The Sims 3 and Gears of War 2), Stephen Trask (Cirque du Freak), AR Rahman (Couples Retreat), Christophe Beck (Date Night), Deborah Lurie (Dear John, Footlose), Despicable Me (Heitor Peirera) and albums for Latin superstar Luis Miguel, Sara Bareilles, David Archuleta and Emmy Rossum. A list of credits can be found here.
Davies has written much concert music and is a represented composer of the Australian Music Centre. He frequently returns for concerts and has given masterclasses and lectures at most of the major Australian East Coast music schools. He has recently joined the board of Education Through Music, a non-profit that provides music lessons in schools that do not have music programs, something all too common in the United States.
