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Photo: Larry Mah

Grammy-nominated composer, arranger and bandleader 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 realised in 1998 when he formed his first band in Melbourne, Australia. Its run was cut short by Davies's move to the US, but it made quite an impact in the time it had.

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 its latest album, Dialmentia, came out in May 2009. Leading the band from the drums, Davies creates arrangements grounded in the traditional, while adding elements of classical, rock, metal, and hip hop to create a sound that is truly unique. Davies's big band music is now played all over the world and he is often commissioned to write new works.

In 2010 Davies's piece 'Counting to Infinity' was recognised with a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition.

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 three years while he was Director of Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl. In his time with Clayton, Davies did orchestrations and transcriptions for concerts featuring a Who's who of the jazz world, including 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. This was an amazing experience and education, a true old-school apprenticeship. Davies's style is quite different from that of Clayton; however, the influence of the latter can easily be heard.

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, Colin Hay, Tunde Baiyewu (Lighthouse Family), Jamie Cullum, Queen Latifah, Sarah Bareilles, Salaam Remi, Cee-lo Green, Liza Minnelli, Jon Faddis, Chaka Khan, Amy Winehouse, Akon, Jordin Sparks, Nas, Miguel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Metropole 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 the films Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Sex and the City 2, Tower Heist, The Watch and Jack Reacher. Davies has also been instrumental in expanding the sound of the orchestra in 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 textural string writing, he is often commissioned to write textural/ambient music for which he has coined the term 'Symphonic Sound Design'.

All of this work naturally led to Davies becoming a conductor. He has conducted most of the film, TV, and game projects mentioned above, 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 (The Hangover III, Muppets), Deborah Lurie (Dear John, Footloose), Heitor Peirera (Despicable Me), Ramin Djawadi (Fright Night) and albums for the likes of Latin superstar Luis Miguel, Sara Bareilles, and Melody Gardot.

In April 2013 Davies launched DeBreved, a blog about orchestration and conducting, based on his decade of experience in the studios of Hollywood.

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 Los Angeles, a non-profit that provides music lessons in schools that do not have music programs. He plays and endorses Pearl Drums and Sabian Cymbals.

Tim Davies was born in Brisbane in 1972. He studied percussion and composition at the Queensland Conservatorium, then composition at the Elder Conservatorium and the University of Melbourne. In 1998 he was awarded grants from the Queen's Trust and the Ian Potter foundation that enabled him to further his studies at the University of Southern California. Davies's primary composition teachers have been Gerard Brophy, Greame Koehne, Brenton Broadstock and Leonard Rosenman.

Tim Davies — current to April 2013