TODD SIMON – JAZZ ON 45’s | Urban Buddha Music

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Todd Simon is a multi-instrumentalist composer, arranger and performer living and working in sunny Los Angeles, CA. Todd has found a niche providing soulful horn and string sounds for countless projects whether they are on wax, TV, or on the big screen and has had his unique sound tapped by artists and producers such as David Sitek, Rhye, Adrian Younge, Ghostface Killah and Lily Allen. In addition to working out of his own NuFi Studios, Todd frequents Hollywood’s finest studios.

After helping brew the funky-breakbeat institution known as Breakestra, Todd went on to tour the world with Macy Gray where he refined his deeper Soul roots. LA wasn’t enough so Todd relocated himself to NYC where he found himself immersed in the scene with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, Ming + FS, DJ Spinna, Tiklah’s Roots Combination, Dub Is A Weapon, Sugarman 3 and El Michels Affair.

Todd returned to LA and reunited with Breakestra-mate Dan Ubick to help create Connie Price and the Keystones, a cinematic-soul inspired outfit that has gone on to back up Big Daddy Kane, Percee P, Too Short and many other Hip-Hop masters. Impressed by his arranging chops, Stone Throw Records asked Todd to arrange for Madlib’s YNQ project: Sound Directions.
In 2004, Todd joined forces with the Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) acting as arranger, conductor, and trumpeter for an exciting event called ArRange, combined old school arrangers David Matthews (James Brown, CTI, Kudu, etc), Claire and Brent Fischer (Prince, Dizzy Gillespie, MPS, etc.) and Deodato (Bjork, Kool and the Gang, Joao Donato, etc.) with new school producers OHNo, Underground Resistance and Kirk DiGiorgio. Todd prepared and led the ensemble in a performance with the Northwest Sinfonia at a live performance in Seattle’s McCaw Hall. RBMA was so impressed with Todd’s work that they asked him to take part as a studio mentor/lecturer for their 2006 Melbourne Academy with incredible peers Wajeed, Flying Lotus, Cut Chemist, and the Bamboos.

Using his rolodex of LA’s top musicians, Todd pursued a dream of recording his own Jamaican inspired project The Lions. This led to yet another arranging opportunity, this time with Ubiquity Records, where Todd has arranged for artists such as: DJ Greyboy, Quantic, Clutchy Hopkins, Ohmega Watts, Orgone and Shawn Lee.

Todd’s skill for arranging has also been relied upon by ESL’s Ocote Soul Sounds, Rockstar Games (L.A. Noire and Undead Nightmare), composers Stephen Trask (Sexdrive) and Mike Andrews (Stuck On You), and TLC’s Take Home Chef.

Todd has recently been in the studio with Kelis, Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eyes, Dave Sitek, Rhye, The Delfonics, TV On The Radio, Mayer Hawthorne, MF Doom, Flying Lotus, Jneiro Jarel, Sam Sparro and Quadron. He also recently performed with long time heroes Mulatu Astatke and Arthur Verocai as part of the Mochilla TIMELESS Series, in addition to playing with El-P on Conan and playing (for the 5th time) with Nas and Swizz Beats at the 2012 ESPY Awards.

TODD SIMON: Official page, Facebook, Soundcloud