Our Artists
Composers are rarely just that. They are musicians, artists, performers; they’re people who just can’t stay away from experimenting with music. Every one of our composing artists is involved with making tomorrow’s innovative music outside of their work for the library.
When composer David Norland began building his unique, instrumental-only library, he wanted to include other composers whose work moved him. More specifically, he wanted to include exciting emerging artists, who worked in a variety of different fields and musical genres. Our rapidly expanding roster of artists is a reflection of some of the really innovative and diverse things that are happening across the spectrum of new sounds. From jazz operas to hiphop, choral works to experimental piano and ambience, our artists are grass roots originals who are creating profoundly personal and powerful music.
DAVID NORLAND
David Norland is prolific. If you turn on your TV at any given time, the chances are good you’ll hear his music. His most recent film score is to HBO’s My Dinner With Herve, starring Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan. He has also won acclaim for the award winning documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil, and November Criminals starring Ansel Elgort and Chloe Moretz. His music airs constantly on ABC and numerous other TV channels around the world, on primetime news documentaries like 20/20, Nightline and dozens of other shows.
David was raised in England, signed to Epic Records in London as a teenager, and later, after a move to Los Angeles, signed to Maverick Records, as part of the electronic act Solar Twins, who rode high on the Billboard dance charts. But ask him what his passion is, and he’ll tell you choral music. He lives in Los Angeles and is currently working on an album of piano, electronics, and string quartet, with more TV and movie projects on the way.
NICK DEPINNA
Nick DePinna is as likely to be found touring with the Brian Setzer or Billy Vaughn Orchestras as scoring for film and TV. His trombone playing is in demand, and he has recorded and performed with a host of jazz greats, among them Herbie Hancock, Jerry Lee Lewis and Kenny Burrell.
But his music composition has also won him acclaim. At UCLA where he received his MA in Music Composition in 2010, he won the BMI William Goldstein Award, the ICAP Scholarship and two ASCAP Louis Armstrong Awards. Screen credits include the films Every Rose (2007) ChainSmoke (2008), Escape (2009), The Titans of Newark (2012) and tv shows Tattoo Titans (2014) and Tough Love (2014). He co-leads his own jazz orchestra Jazz Nexus, has written and produced a jazz opera, and is part of an electro-acoustic pop band, Nova.
JULIAN LE
Every day, the list of rappers and hip-hop artists that UCLA scholar Julian Le performs and records with grows longer. Among many are Chris Brown, Ab-Soul, Childish Gambino, Vince Staples (Cutthroat Boyz), Bilal, Dumbfounded, Elzhi (Formerly Slum Village), Aditya Prakash, Anderson Paak (Breezy Lovejoy), Judith Hill, Shafiq Husayn , to name but a few. He regularly programs Jhene Aiko’s show and plays keys for her.
Julian, who is 24 years old, graduated from UCLA in 2012 on a full scholarship under Kenny Burrell and James Newton. He won best Original Composition and Outstanding College Performance in 2011 from Downbeat Magazine. His keyboard playing is legendary and you will find links to some of his most recent projects on his website.
BRADY COHAN
There isn’t a bigger band behind a bigger curtain than the one that plays every week on Dancing With The Stars—and Brady Cohan is that band’s guitarist. With skills, honed since winning national guitar competitions as a teenager, Cohan is a natural talent in the spotlight. He has toured with Keyshia Cole, Queen Latifah, Stanley Clarke, Stewart Copeland, Natalie Cole, and many more.
After studying music at the University of Southern California, Cohan began work with EMMY Award-winning composer Trevor Morris at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions, scoring the Showtime series The Tudors and other projects like The Incredible Hulk (2008). Since then, he has written, arranged and played guitar for many, many projects including the film Aliens in the Attic (2009), The Loop (TV series), Noam Bleiweiss’ Guilt, Mac & Cheese: A Romantic Story, Camp Rock 2 (2010), Cannes Film Festival entrant K Citizen (2010) and MTV’s animated series Good Vibes. Currently, Cohan together with Ross Garren, are scoring Toy, an indie feature, due to be released in Spring 2015.
ROSS GARREN
Recently named a Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Fellow, Ross Garren has won three ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Awards, arranged for BB King, performed on countless recordings including featured soloist on Dumb and Dumber To starring (Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels), served on the faculty of the Musician’s Institute - and he’s still only 29.
Ross received his B.M. from the University of Southern California where he was named Outstanding Graduate in Composition in 2008. He plays piano and harmonica and is a member of the duos Garren & Cohan and the Sheriffs of Schroedingham. He also has his own solo instrumental project, Taggart. To listen to Taggart's second album, click the link on his website.