Tim Davies leads a very busy musical life, and the Grammy- and Annie-nominated musician splits his time between orchestrating for features, television, and video games; composing his own scores; and conducting and arranging for orchestras all around the globe. Whether it is as composer/orchestrator/conductor or a combination of all three, he’s been a part of Frozen and Frozen 2, both Ant-Man movies, The Lego Movie 2, La La Land, Trolls, Minions, The Peanuts Movie, The Croods: A New Age, Empire and WandaVision. He is currently lead orchestrator for Christophe Beck, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Fil Eisler. When not on the scoring stage, Davies can be found at the podium conducting orchestras in concert halls and other live venues specializing in film scores live to picture.
Our show today focuses on the work Davies did for his frequent collaborators/friends, directors Jorge Gutierrez and Guillermo del Toro. This year, he scored Gutierrez’s upcoming show Maya and the Three, and previously collaborated with two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla to score The Book of Life. He also received an Annie nomination for his work scoring all three seasons of Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, executive produced by del Toro, and contributed additional music for Crimson Peak. They have such a good relationship that in 2019, del Toro asked Davies to produce and conduct a concert of scores from his movies with the Jalisco Philharmonic in his home town of Guadalajara, Mexico.
So enter Maya and the Three. Having watched the show over the course of a week, and listened to tracks from the score for eight straight days, the music to the series is nothing short of sensational. And it has to be. When you have Gutierrez’s imagination running wild, everyone needs to go all out just to keep up with the eye-popping visuals! Out favorite tracks are ‘Rico the Rooster Wizard‘, and ‘The Moon and the Sun‘. Just those two alone give a nice cross-section of the colorful palette Santaolalla and Davies work with.
Moreover, it’s so rich and colorful. The music has to do a lot, and it’s quite understated how much music goes into an animated property. Every note of the score to Maya and the Three is incredibly vibrant and complex – a robust mix of choral work, drums, woodwinds, brass and strings (both soft and heavy metal). Again, it’s worth noting that the sophistication of the auditory journey parallels the grandeur of the visuals at hand.
Tim has been described as prolific. Better, he’s the secret weapon in many a composer’s arsenal. He’s also a go-to guy for titans like the above-mentioned Beck because Tim has a TON of experience. Check out his credits, and you’ll see he’s been part of some of the biggest and noteworthy films in the last ten years. Not only that, every project, big or small, comes with its own unique challenges and puzzles. When it all fits together, it’s because Tim is on his A-game.
In the entertainment world, there’s an expression when the score exists nearly every minute of the film: it’s called wall-to-wall music. In this case, our chat was over 100 minutes, and it’s because Tim and I did wall-to-wall talking. Really though, he’s a chuckle-a-minute, full of great stories, and I could have listened to him for a day-and-a-half. So please enjoy this episode of the podcast, and get to know Tim Davies!
Check out more of Tim’s work (including all his Big Band stuff and video game work which we didn’t even get to bring up) at his official website: www.timusic.net
Presented in nine epic chapters set in a fictional fantasy world, Maya and the Three debuts on Netflix October 22. And the soundtrack is set for release the same day the show drops. Here’s one of the standout tracks, and jump to the bottom for more info on the album.
SOUNDTRACK FROM THE NETFLIX ANIMATED EVENT
WITH ORIGINAL THEMES BY AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER & MUSICIAN GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA
PLUS AN ORIGINAL SCORE BY COMPOSER TIM DAVIES
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 22
1. Maya’s Theme – Gustavo Santaolalla
2. The Tecas Ride – Tim Davies
3. Maya Begins – Tim Davies
4. Vaiven – Gustavo Santaolalla
5. Rooster Skull Puma – Tim Davies
6. Teca Attacks – Tim Davies
7. Bolom Chon – Juan Carlos Enriquez Sanchez
8. Mentira – Tim Davies
9. Luna Y Selva – Gustavo Santaolalla
10. Rico the Rooster Wizard – Tim Davies
11. Chimi’s Theme – Gustavo Santaolalla
12. Chimi the Skull Archer – Tim Davies
13. Cabrakan and Cipactli – Tim Davies
14. Hura Can – Juan Carlos Enriquez Sanchez
15. Picchu’s Theme – Gustavo Santaolalla
16. Picchu the Puma Warrior – Tim Davies
17. Huapangoso – Gustavo Santaolalla
18. Ah Puch the Mysterious Goddess – Tim Davies
19. Zatz the Prince of Bats – Gustavo Santaolalla
20. Madres – Tim Davies
21. Lord Mictlan and Acat – Tim Davies
22. Strong Medicine – Tim Davies
23. The Three Fight – Tim Davies
24. The Divine Gate – Tim Davies
25. Esqueletos – Tim Davies
26. Micte’s Flashback – Tim Davies
27. The Greatest Wizard – Tim Davies
28. Ouroboros, the Final Fight – Tim Davies
29. The Moon and the Sun – Tim Davies
30. El Raspon – Gustavo Santaolalla
31. Ronroco – Gustavo Santaolalla
Milan Records will release MAYA AND THE THREE (SOUNDTRACK TO THE NETFLIX ANIMATED EVENT), an album of music from Netflix’s animated event created by Jorge R. Gutiérrez. Available October 22, the album features original themes by multi-Academy Award-winning composer and musician GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA as well as score music by GRAMMY-nominated composer TIM DAVIES.
Multiply your courage, by the power of three on an epic journey to save a fantastical world. Three outcasts from three distant lands, Chimi (The Skull Warrior), Rico (The Rooster Wizard) and Picchu (The Puma Barbarian) will join Maya (The Eagle Warrior) on her mighty quest to stop Lord Mictlan (The god of war) and fulfill an ancient prophecy.
