Jeff Russo
Jeff Russo (born August 31, 1969) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of the rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of acoustic rock band Low Stars.
Jeff Russo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | Rock, acoustic rock |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, music producer |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Website | jeffrusso |
Russo is also known for his work as composer on various films and television series, notably Snowfall, Fargo, Legion, and Counterpart, as well as the Star Trek series Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and For All Mankind (TV series). He also scored the miniseries The Night Of and the acclaimed video game What Remains of Edith Finch. For his work on Fargo, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special in 2017.
Biography
Russo began his music career as a rock musician. In 2012 he was invited (by his rock-band friends, Wendy & Lisa) to assist in creating the theme music for a planned TV series based on the popular movie Fargo, and he realized how much he enjoyed the process.[1] He currently scores two Peabody Award nominated shows: CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery and FX’s Legion, starring Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza. He also scores Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy starring Elliot Page, Robert Sheehan and Mary J. Blige, based on the popular comic book series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. He wrote for Noah Hawley’s feature directorial debut from Fox Searchlight, Lucy in the Sky, starring Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm, and Altered Carbon, an adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s sci-fi novel. His film work includes scoring Mark Wahlberg’s action-thriller film Mile 22, Craig Macneill’s Lizzie, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and Jon Avnet’s Three Christs, starring Richard Gere, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. [2] His first connection with the Star Trek franchise was his contribution to Star Trek: Discovery.[1]
Russo and his wife, musician Nina Gordon, of the band Veruca Salt, have two children.
Albums
Tonic
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Lemon Parade |
| 1999 | Live and Enhanced |
| Sugar | |
| 2002 | Head on Straight |
| 2009 | A Casual Affair: The Best of Tonic |
| 2010 | Tonic |
| 2016 | Lemon Parade Revisited |
Guest appearance
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 2016 | TAMA GIRARD "When I Think of You" (Single) |
Low Stars
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Calling All Friends EP |
| Low Stars | |
Solo
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 2007-2008 | Make Me Feel Good About Me (unreleased) |
Film
| Year | Title | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | About Cherry | Stephen Elliott |
| Watercolor Postcards | Rajeev Dassani | |
| 2013 | Free Ride | Shana Betz |
| Bad Behaviour | Nicholas Brandt Lisa Hamil | |
| 2014 | The Surface | Gil Cates Jr. |
| 2017 | Hondros | Greg Campbell |
| Three Christs | Jon Avnet | |
| Submission | Richard Levine | |
| 2018 | Lizzie | Craig William Macneill |
| Mile 22 | Peter Berg | |
| 2019 | Lucy in the Sky | Noah Hawley |
| 2020 | Lorelei | Sabrina Doyle |
| 2022 | American Dreamer | Paul Dektor |
Television
| Year | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Unusuals | |
| 2010 | My Generation | |
| 2011-2013 | Necessary Roughness | Scored 16 episodes |
| 2013-2014 | Hostages | Composed with Ben Decter |
| 2014-present | Fargo |
|
| 2014-2020 | Power | |
| 2015 | Tut | Miniseries |
| Manhattan | ||
| The Returned | With Zoë Keating | |
| 2016 | American Gothic | |
| The Night Of | Miniseries | |
| 2016-present | Lucifer | Composed with Ben Decter Replaced Marco Beltrami and Dennis Smith for Season 2 onwards |
| 2016-2018 | Channel Zero | |
| 2017-2018 | Ghosted | |
| 2017-2019 | Legion | |
| 2017-present | Snowfall | |
| Star Trek: Discovery | Original Star Trek Theme by Alexander Courage | |
| 2017-2019 | Counterpart | |
| 2018-2020 | Altered Carbon | |
| Star Trek: Short Treks[3] | Original Star Trek Theme by Alexander Courage Composed main theme and the score for the first season along with the music for "Children of Mars" from the second season. The rest of the second season continued to use Russo's title theme but the scores were otherwise composed by various composers including Kris Bowers, Nami Melumad and others, with Michael Giacchino serving as supervising composer and writing the music for the short that he directed. | |
| 2018 | Waco | Miniseries. Co-composed with Jordan Gagne |
| Santa Clarita Diet | Composed 2nd and 3rd season. 1st season composed by John Debney | |
| 2019-present | The Umbrella Academy | |
| For All Mankind | ||
| 2019 | The Act | |
| The InBetween | ||
| Treadstone | Original Bourne themes by John Powell. Co-composed with Jordan Gagne | |
| 2020-present | Star Trek: Picard | Composed first two seasons. Third and final one to be composed by Stephen Barton |
| 2020 | Warrior Nun | |
| Cursed | Composed theme | |
| Brave New World | Co-composed with Jordan Gagne | |
| Utopia | ||
| 2021 | Clarice | |
| Oslo | Television film. Co-composed with Zoë Keating | |
| Brand New Cherry Flavor | Miniseries | |
| 2022 | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Composed main theme |
| Bosch: Legacy | ||
| 2023 | Love & Death | Miniseries |
Video game
| Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | What Remains of Edith Finch | Giant Sparrow | Nominated — BAFTA Game Award for Best Music |
| 2018 | Madden NFL 18 | Electronic Arts | Story mode Longshot |
References
- Eric Molinsky (October 27, 2022). "Songs in the Key of SF". Imaginary Worlds Ep. 210. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
- "Jeff Russo Biography". Jeff Russo. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
- Ulster, Laurie. "Interview: Composer Jeff Russo Talks About The Challenges Of Scoring 'Star Trek: Short Treks'". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.