ARRAY Crew Celebrates Black Music Month

Black Music Month is celebrated in the United States each June. We acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of Black musical influences as an essential part of our cultural heritage. Check out a few of the Black musical creatives in ARRAY Crew and their contributions to the culture.

AAMINA GANT

MUSIC SUPERVISOR

Aamina Gant was born into the music business, with a prominent songwriter father and record executive mother. She began recording and assisting with producing vocals at the age of 10 and has not looked back!

Aamina has signed on to a number of high-profile projects including multiple series for Producer/Director Ava Duvernay – DMZ for HBO Max with director Ernest Dickerson, starring Rosario Dawson; NAOMI for the CW with director Amanda Marsalis, and COLIN IN BLACK AND WHITE, now airing on Netflix. She is also the music supervisor for upcoming projects BREATHE for Netflix and BUST DOWN, for Peacock.

She was the “on set” music director for Lee Daniels’ Fox show, STAR. For all 3 seasons, she oversaw the recording of all original music for the show. This included vocal production of the cast, securing outside featured artists, and assisting the incoming directors with executing Lee’s vision for each musical performance.

She looks forward to continuing to work closely with creatives to assist in shaping and executing the perfect marriage between music and story!

CREDITS

MICHAEL ABELS

COMPOSER

Michael Abels is best-known for his scores for the Oscar-winning film GET OUT, and for Jordan Peele’s US, for which Abels won the World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, an Image Award nomination, and multiple critics awards. The hip-hop influenced score for US was short-listed for the Oscar, and was even named “Score of the Decade” by online publication The Wrap.

As a concert composer, Abels has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, and the Sphinx Organization, among others. His orchestral works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and many more.

As guest conductor of GET OUT IN CONCERT, Abels has led orchestras like the National Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. Several of his orchestral works have been recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label, including Delights & Dances and Global Warming. Abels is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, game and streaming media. Upcoming projects include the ballet for concert band FALLING SKY for Butler University, AT WAR WITH OURSELVES for the Kronos Quartet, and the Hugh Jackman film BAD EDUCATION for HBO.

CREDITS

MEDIA AND PRESS

ASCAP Composers Dominate 2019 World Soundtrack Awards

Defining the Anguish of The Tethered with the Composer of ‘Us’

Us’ Composer Michael Abels on Working with Jordan Peele & What Makes Music Scary

AWARDS

NOMINEE PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS 2021 – Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Allen v. Farrow

WINNER BLACK REEL AWARDS 2020 – Outstanding Score Us

WINNER BLACK REEL AWARDS 2018 – Outstanding Score Get Out

NOMINEE CRITICS CHOICE AWARD – Best Score Us

DEL SPIVA

MUSIC EDITOR

Spiva has been working as a music editor on major feature productions since 2004, after launching his career as an assistant sound editor and then assistant music editor. A periodic collaborator with director Ridley Scott as an assistant music editor and then music editor on three films, Spiva has been busy lately with an eclectic mix of projects. Del Spiva is known for COMING 2 AMERICA (2021), TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022) and A QUIET PLACE PART II (2020).

CREDITS

AWARDS

NOMINEE PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS 2018 – Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera) The Defiant Ones

NOMINEE PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS 2017 – Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie or Special Genius

NOMINEE GOLDEN REEL AWARD 2022 – Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature – Music A Quiet Place Part II

NOMINEE GOLDEN REEL AWARD 2019 – Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR for Non-Theatrical Feature Film Broadcast Media My Dinner with Hervé

NOMINEE GOLDEN REEL AWARD 2018 – Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR for Non-Theatrical Documentary Broadcast Media The Defiant Ones

WINNER GOLDEN REEL AWARD – Best Sound Editing – Long Form Music in Television Saints & Strangers

NOMINEE GOLDEN REEL AWARD – Best Sound Editing – Music in a Feature Film American Gangster

NICOLLE JOHNSON

MUSIC CLEARANCE

Nicolle Johnson is the owner of NJ Music Clearance. She works as a Music Clearance Consultant. She gained most of her music industry experience working at Universal Music Publishing for 9 years in their film and TV department. She then went on to work at Warner Chappell for 3 years handling clearance and licensing for their very high profile catalogue of artists. With 15+ years of experience, her passion for the industry has grown and she looks forward to taking on more exciting projects and networking with more people.

CREDITS

MEDIA AND PRESS

Meet Nicolle Johnson | Music Clearance Consultant

TRAVON POTTS

MUSIC SUPERVISOR

Travon Marcel Potts is an American composer, songwriter, music producer and music supervisor. His discography as a songwriter and producer includes hits like “Angel of Mine” for Monica, and “Time of our Lives” for Ahmed Chawki that became the theme song for BeIN’s 2014 World Cup Coverage. Travon has also penned songs with many multiplatinum and diamond selling artists such as Christina Aguilera, Montell Jordan, Wayne Beckford, Kenny Lattimore, Anastasia, Eternal, BeBe Winans, Trin-i-tee 5:7, Public Announcement, and more. He scored and wrote original music for Lifetime Network’s WHITNEY directed by Angela Bassett, and UpTV Network’s A CROSS TO BEAR starring Kim Fields and Danielle Deadwyler.

His music has also appeared in movies and TV series BMF (Starz),GREENLEAF (OWN), SWAGGER (Apple TV), THE CHI (Showtime), TWENTIES (BET),  MIRACLE IN LANE 2 (Disney), ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS (New Line Cinema), and SOUL PLANE (MGM). Recently, Travon was the Music Supervisor for ADVENTURES IN CHRISTMASING (Viacom) starring and executive produced by Kim Fields—where he was also the executive producer for the film’s soundtrack.

https://www.travonpotts.com/

CREDITS

NICOLE NEELY

COMPOSER

Nicole has written music for Fantasia, Tank, and John Legend & arranged strings for TI’s Tiny Desk. She has also arranged for HER’s 2018 BET Awards debut, performed with Pink & Chris Stapleton, Dan & Shay, and Willie Nelson on the CMA’s, and orchestrated for the 2018 & 2021 Dove Awards. In 2019, Nicole arranged and conducted the MisEd Tour with Ms. Lauryn Hill, arranged for Toni Braxton’s 2019 AMA performance, and performed at the 2020 Grammy’s with Lizzo. Additionally, she has worked with BBE on several projects like Camilla Cabello’s VH1 Storytellers and for Alicia Keys 2021 Billboard Awards performance, and orchestrated for Mariah Carey on James Corden. Nicole served as MD, arranger, conductor and contractor for Juice WRLD Day Dec 2021 and performed on the 2022 Oscars with Beyonce. She was commissioned by Nashville Symphony in March 2022.

IG/TW:@stringschick

CREDITS

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