Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Los Angeles California, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, music director, producer, and educator. He has recorded on over 600 albums, films and TV shows, and performed thousands of live concerts around the world working with the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Smokey Robinson, Wayne Shorter, Billy Higgins, Ray Brown, Brad Mehldau, Hubert Laws, Dr. Dre, Flying Lotus,...

Born and raised in Los Angeles California, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, music director, producer, and educator. He has recorded on over 600 albums, films and TV shows, and performed thousands of live concerts around the world working with the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Smokey Robinson, Wayne Shorter, Billy Higgins, Ray Brown, Brad Mehldau, Hubert Laws, Dr. Dre, Flying Lotus, and many others. 

A true visionary from the days of his earliest output in the 00s with experimental hip-hop/jazz/electronic outfits like Ammoncontact, The Life Force Trio and creative music ensemble Build An Ark, Miguel established a fruitful friendship with producer and long term musical partner Carlos Niño, alongside the likes of vocalist Dwight Trible, Phil Ranelin (founder of Tribe Records), Nate Morgan (Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra) and Adam Rudolph (co-founder of the Pharoahs). Miguel and Carlos’ most recent collaborative output “Chicago Waves” was released on the cult jazz label International Anthem in 2020.

In 2009, to great acclaim, Miguel celebrated the beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla by composing and performing an orchestral tribute with a 60 piece orchestra called ‘Suite For Ma Dukes’. In 2016, Miguel arranged, orchestrated, and conducted the music for season 1 of the Netflix show, ‘Luke Cage’. 2017 saw Miguel performing the Dilla tribute in Europe, Los Angeles, and New York’s Lincoln Center, as well as orchestrating for Mary J Blige and Anderson .Paak, working on film scores with Flying Lotus, performing 50 concerts touring in Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner’s band, and arranging and conducting the music for The Dallas Pops Orchestra featuring The Roots, Erykah Badu, Chaka Khan, Bilal, and Robert Glasper. Miguel composed and recorded a string orchestra of himself on the song ‘Make It Better’ for Smokey Robinson and Anderson .Paak in 2019 while composing orchestral arrangements for the Questlove curated WorldWide Tour '4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince'.

Miguel had the honor of co-writing a song named after him on the 2020 Grammy winning Progressive R+B album of the year for his friend Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner. In 2021, Miguel was featured on Kris Bowers’ score for the Netflix mini series ‘Colin in Black and White’ as well as on Bonobo’s new album ‘Fragments’. 2022 featured Miguel’s Carnegie Hall Debut with his longtime close friend and collaborator Flying Lotus and harpist Brandee Younger as part of the Afrofuturism Festival. Later in the year Miguel had the great honor of arranging and orchestrating the orchestral concert debuts of both Hiatus Kaiyote and Flying Lotus which was held to great acclaim at The Hollywood Bowl and San Diego Symphony. 2022 also saw Miguel premiering his newly commissioned orchestral tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. as part of Lincoln Center’s Outside Summer Series to such success, that he was asked back to do it again less than 6 months later, this time making history inside David Geffen Hall making it the first time Hip-Hop music has ever been played there. Hiatus Kaiyote called upon Miguel again in 2023, this time to write more orchestral arrangements for them, which they premiered at The Sydney Opera House.


Forthcoming Events

April 2024

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson


Latest News

BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Los Angeles California, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, music director, producer, and educator. He has recorded on over 600 albums, films and TV shows, and performed thousands of live concerts around the world working with the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Smokey Robinson, Wayne Shorter, Billy Higgins, Ray Brown, Brad Mehldau, Hubert Laws, Dr. Dre, Flying Lotus, and many others....

Born and raised in Los Angeles California, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, music director, producer, and educator. He has recorded on over 600 albums, films and TV shows, and performed thousands of live concerts around the world working with the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Smokey Robinson, Wayne Shorter, Billy Higgins, Ray Brown, Brad Mehldau, Hubert Laws, Dr. Dre, Flying Lotus, and many others. 

A true visionary from the days of his earliest output in the 00s with experimental hip-hop/jazz/electronic outfits like Ammoncontact, The Life Force Trio and creative music ensemble Build An Ark, Miguel established a fruitful friendship with producer and long term musical partner Carlos Niño, alongside the likes of vocalist Dwight Trible, Phil Ranelin (founder of Tribe Records), Nate Morgan (Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra) and Adam Rudolph (co-founder of the Pharoahs). Miguel and Carlos’ most recent collaborative output “Chicago Waves” was released on the cult jazz label International Anthem in 2020.

In 2009, to great acclaim, Miguel celebrated the beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla by composing and performing an orchestral tribute with a 60 piece orchestra called ‘Suite For Ma Dukes’. In 2016, Miguel arranged, orchestrated, and conducted the music for season 1 of the Netflix show, ‘Luke Cage’. 2017 saw Miguel performing the Dilla tribute in Europe, Los Angeles, and New York’s Lincoln Center, as well as orchestrating for Mary J Blige and Anderson .Paak, working on film scores with Flying Lotus, performing 50 concerts touring in Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner’s band, and arranging and conducting the music for The Dallas Pops Orchestra featuring The Roots, Erykah Badu, Chaka Khan, Bilal, and Robert Glasper. Miguel composed and recorded a string orchestra of himself on the song ‘Make It Better’ for Smokey Robinson and Anderson .Paak in 2019 while composing orchestral arrangements for the Questlove curated WorldWide Tour '4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince'.

Miguel had the honor of co-writing a song named after him on the 2020 Grammy winning Progressive R+B album of the year for his friend Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner. In 2021, Miguel was featured on Kris Bowers’ score for the Netflix mini series ‘Colin in Black and White’ as well as on Bonobo’s new album ‘Fragments’. 2022 featured Miguel’s Carnegie Hall Debut with his longtime close friend and collaborator Flying Lotus and harpist Brandee Younger as part of the Afrofuturism Festival. Later in the year Miguel had the great honor of arranging and orchestrating the orchestral concert debuts of both Hiatus Kaiyote and Flying Lotus which was held to great acclaim at The Hollywood Bowl and San Diego Symphony. 2022 also saw Miguel premiering his newly commissioned orchestral tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. as part of Lincoln Center’s Outside Summer Series to such success, that he was asked back to do it again less than 6 months later, this time making history inside David Geffen Hall making it the first time Hip-Hop music has ever been played there. Hiatus Kaiyote called upon Miguel again in 2023, this time to write more orchestral arrangements for them, which they premiered at The Sydney Opera House.

Forthcoming Events

April 2024