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Kevin McHugh

Kevin McHugh is a improviser, pianist and accordionist living in Tokyo, Japan.

About Me

Kevin McHugh is a pianist, composer and improviser born in Seattle, Washington. He has performed in a variety of groups and with notable musicians and teachers ranging from jazz drummer Billy Hart, saxophonist Gary Bartz, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, trombonist Robin Eubanks, Salah Ragab (Egyptian drummer for Sun Ra), trumpeter Peter Evans, Jovino Santos-Neto (flutist and pianist with Hermeto Pascoal), to Fugazi bassist Joe Lally, Japanese noise musician Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro), punk bassist Mike Watt (The Minutemen, Stooges) and Brazilian singer Zé de Riba. Besides working on blues, solo electronic music, noise rock, ballet and tap dance accompaniment, and musical improv comedy, Kevin has also performed and recorded with the experimental band Capillary Action, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and many theater groups around the world.

Kevin McHugh has lived in or around cities including Seattle, Berlin, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, São Paulo, Mumbai and Cairo, performing as a leader or sideman in many prominent venues, and has toured over 20 countries and 100 cities in the United States. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In 2006 he won a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to research the sound and music of megacities. He currently lives in Tokyo and is working on various composition and performing projects.