Tag Archives: #listenLA

Unsettling the Score: Interview with composer Nathaniel Blume

How fraught familial drama and steely surgical tools inspired Nathaniel Blume’s killer soundtrack for ‘Prodigal Son’

by Max Weinstein

To say that stories about serial killers enjoy a permanent residency in popular imagination would be to state the obvious. The challenge, now, isn’t for stories about psychopaths to draw an audience, but to offer a fresh take on a subject done to death.

Composer Nathaniel Blume says that “Prodigal Son” — the Fox crime drama he recently scored—meets that challenge by putting family first. The series follows Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne), an ex-FBI profiler whose relationship with his father, serial killer Dr. Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen), gives him unique insight into murderers’ motives. Blume, whose credits include “Arrow” and “The Flash,” approached “Prodigal Son” by focusing more on its characters’ blood ties than on the blood itself. Continue reading

#AFM47 Spring playlist

Sound clips below. To hear the full playlist, click here to listen on Spotify.

Congratulations 2019 Emmy Nominees!

Congratulations to all of the fantastic AFM Local 47 members who worked on this year’s Emmy®-nominated television shows! 

The 71st Annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony will be held over two nights on September 14 & 15, 2019.

Best of luck to all!


Outstanding Music Composition for a Series

Jeff Beal 
House Of Cards – “Chapter 73”
Netflix

Siddhartha Khosla
This Is Us – “Songbird Road: Part One”
NBC

Adam Taylor
The Handmaid’s Tale – “The Word”
Hulu Continue reading

#AFM47 Member Spotlight: Abraham Laboriel

AFM Local 47 Life Member Abraham Laboriel has lived a life surrounded by music. 

Born in Mexico City, his parents were Garifuna immigrants from Honduras. His sister is singer Ela Laboriel, and their brother was late rock singer Johnny Laboriel. Abraham is the father of  drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and of producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo Laboriel — both of whom are also proud members of the Los Angeles musicians union. Continue reading

Gloria Cheng wins L.A. Area Emmy for Independent Programming

Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng, a professor of music in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, has won an Emmy for independent programming at the 70th annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards for her short music documentary, “MONTAGE: Great film composers and the piano.”

The 2018 awards ceremony took place July 28.

The LA Area Emmy Awards are given to Los Angeles television stations and cable television for broadcast achievements for Local News, Programming, and Sports within the Los Angeles market.

 

L.A. Music Director Gregg Field wins Creative Arts Emmy

Congratulations to Los Angeles music director Gregg Field for taking home a 2018 Creative Arts Emmy for his work on the PBS special “Tony Bennett: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.”

While no stranger to accolades — Field has several Grammy Awards under his belt, including Latin Grammy Producer of the Year — this marks the multi-talented musician’s first Emmy nomination and win.

The program premiered in January 2018 on PBS stations nationwide and honored Tony Bennett as the first “interpretive singer” to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize. With Bruce Willis as host and Gregg Field as music director, the special was taped Nov. 15, 2017 at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. and featured performances by Bennett as well as Chris Botti, Michael Bublé, Gloria Estefan, Michael Feinstein, Savion Glover, Josh Groban, Wé McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Vanessa Williams, 2009 Gershwin Prize honoree Stevie Wonder, and Wynton Marsalis.  During the ceremony, Bennett was presented the Gershwin Prize by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and a delegation of members of Congress.

Members of the American Federation of Musicians union Local 47 in Los Angeles, New York AFM Local 802, and Boston AFM Local 9-535 traveled to perform the special event alongside members of the D.C. AFM Local 161-710. The house band, contracted by JoAnn Tominaga (47), included Field on drums, Shelton Berg (47) on piano, Edwin Bonilla (802) on percussion, Ernest Hamilton (47) on bass, Dean Parks (47) on guitar, and Randy Waldman (47) on keyboard. The horn section comprised D.C. 161 -710 members Fred Irby III and Aaron Broadus on trumpet, Joseph Jackson on trombone, and Brent Birckhead and Scott Silbert on sax. The Tony Bennet band featured musicians from Los Angeles and Boston AFM Local 9-535: Tom Ranier (47) on piano, Gray Sargent (9-535) on guitar, Marshall Wood (9-535) on bass, and Harold Jones (47) on drums. Susan Kelly (161-710) served as music librarian. This goes to show — musicians truly are stronger when standing together!

About Gregg Field

A longtime member of AFM Local 47, Field is one of the industry’s most versatile and highly sought-after producers, drummers and educators. A veritable who’s who of the music world are among his musical collaborators, including Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Andrea Bocelli, Seal, Michael Bublé, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Mraz, Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock, Count Basie, Plácido Domingo, Ella Fitzgerald, LeAnn Rimes, Natalie Cole, John Williams, Steve Miller, Arturo Sandoval, Carole King, Brian Wilson, Shania Twain, Olivia Newton John, and many more.

Field has appeared on 32 Grammy-nominated recordings, seven of which have been awarded the coveted Grammy. Not only a highly respected musician, he is a busy record and television producer. In November 2010 he was awarded the coveted Latin Grammy “Producer of the Year” as well as Latin Grammys for producing and engineering the Arturo Sandoval album “A Time For Love.”

Additionally, Field has performed with numerous symphonies worldwide including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Nashville, Seattle, Pittsburgh and the National Symphony in Washington D.C. In 2006, he was invited by President Bush to perform at the White House. Field has served as a Recording Academy Governor and Trustee and Chairman of the Grammy Producers Committee. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music Board of Councilors.