Category
Arranging

Another awesome show with the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez at the Kennedy Center, this time featuring Guster. I had a blast arranging a bunch of new songs and adapting some old ones. Thanks to the team who helped get it over the finish line and contribute some charts as well – Jeremy Levy, Lauren Elizabeth Baba, Jordan Siegel, Lorenzo Carrano, and Pano Fountas for the takedowns and final prep.
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It was a honor to arrange Titanium for Sia and the NSO for the ADL's In Concert Against Hate. It is not often you get to reimagine a song for the original artist.
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What better way to wrap up a very productive year than by conducting my arrangements of Kem's songs at the Kennedy Center? The show featured timeless favorites from Kem's What Christmas Means album, with Ledisi joining as a guest. A big thank you to fellow arrangers, Jeremy Levy, Lauren Elizabeth Baba, and Derrick Hodge and the amazing musicians of the NSO. Thanks also to Justin Ellis for trusting me with the program.
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As an arranger, I've been fortunate to work with artists across different genres, adapting their music for symphonic settings. Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to arrange songs for Dua Lipa’s debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the Heritage Orchestra. For this special event, we aimed to reimagine Dua's music in an orchestral style, which allowed me to explore some really creative ideas with the orchestra. Dua’s new live album, featuring recordings from her Albert Hall debut, is now available on all streaming platforms.…
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What a night! I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with Tobe Nwigwe and the National Symphony Orchestra.  This concert joins a series of successful shows I have collaborated on with the NSO over the past decade, featuring artists such as Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Killer Mike, and many others. It was wonderful to be reunited with conductor Steven Reineke and the National Symphony Orchestra. Thank you to the other arrangers - Jeremy Levy, Lauren Elizabeth Baba, Derrick Hodge and Jongnic Bontemps - for their contributions,…
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You will notice that on my desk I have a pretty unique layout of input devices, but everything is there for a reason. I spend many hours sitting here working and have developed and refined this setup over the years. I am also always trying out new toys, anything to make work easier, faster, and more ergonomic, all of which allow me to be more creative. Note that this setup is totally geared towards orchestrating and arranging. While I do use it to compose, if…
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It was a pleasure to add Killer Mike to the list of collaborations I've had with the Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra over the past decade. He now joins artists such as Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Common, Ne-Yo, and Maxwell with whom we have done shows. This was a last-minute production, so I could not have done it without the help of my team. Thanks to Jeremy Levy, Jordan Seigel, Lauren Elizabeth Baba, Cameron Moody, Carlos Simon, Lorenzo Carrano, Pano Fountas, and Tyler Detulio.…
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Last spring, I was very busy arranging for a wide range of shows. As an arranger, I enjoy the challenge of working on and adapting any musical material. Sometimes you receive material that requires all of your skills to make it work, but other times you are lucky, and the music and artist you are given fit perfectly with the ensemble, making the charts practically write themselves. The latter was the case with Mark Letteri, who trusted me to arrange a few pieces for his…
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For the last 10 years or so, I have been lucky enough to work on shows for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the National Symphony Orchestra. This started with NAS and the Twentieth Anniversary performance of Illmatic, continued with Kendrick Lamar, Common, Babyface, Maxwell, Ne-Yo and, most recently, Killer Mike. Along the way, I have done one-offs for many other shows and orchestras and whole shows for Aminé and Tech N9ne. The process for putting these shows together has evolved over the years to…
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Having written shows for the likes of Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Common, Ne-Yo, and Maxwell, it was Tech N9ne's turn to receive the Symphonic Tim Treatment. On May 4th, 2024, at the Midland Theatre, I had the pleasure of conducting my arrangements of over 30 songs with the Kansas City Symphony. Tech is a KC native so it was an honor to bring two Kansas City institutions together.   
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