Brian Hughes

Los Angeles resident Brian Hughes has carved out an impressive career in the contemporary jazz arena. His first two albums, Between Dusk and Dreaming and Under One Sky, firmly established him as one of the foremost guitarists and composers in the genre, perfectly blending his fluid and emotive guitar style into an exciting, melodic mix of Latin, Jazz and World Music compositions. After being picked as a winner in JAZZIZ Magazine's "Guitars On Fire" competition his subsequent recordings Straight To You, One 2 One, Shakin' not Stirred, Along the Way, Live and the concert DVD No Reservations have received critical acclaim and major radio air play from coast to coast. With his sizzling fret work and infectious compositions the media are accurate in saying: "Both a great artist and an accessible one. His passion is so obvious, intense and contagious, that his audience shares it.” Brian has received the SOCAN / BMI "Jazz & Instrumental Composer of the Year" award seven times from 1997 to 2011 and the title track from “Shakin? Not Stirred” was featured on an episode of HBO's “Sex and the City”.

Hughes' new release (July 12, 2011) is titled Fast Train To A Quiet Place and features an all-star lineup: Matt Rodhe: Keyboards, (Prince, Christina Aguilera), Tal Bergman: Drums, (Joe Bonamassa, Rod Stewart), Ron Powell: Percussion, (Kenny G, Madonna), and Rufus Philpot: Bass, (Al DiMeola, Jeff Golub).

Brian has performed Jazz Festivals and Concerts around the world including: The Providencia Jazz Festival (Santiago, Chile), The Montreal International Jazz Festival, The Edinburgh International Jazz Festival, The Vancouver International Jazz Festival and The Catalina Island Jazz Festival.

Hughes is well known for his 24 year parallel career recording and touring with world renowned vocalist Loreena McKennitt (The Mummer's Dance). Brian's skills as a musician (guitars, oud, bouzouki) and his production talents are evident on her recent platinum recording “The Wind That Shakes the Barley”, the concert DVD “Nights From The Alhambra”, filmed in Granada, Spain and her past eight multi-platinum recordings. Brian has toured the world several times with Loreena, appeared on the "Late Show" with David Letterman and received a Juno (Canadian Grammy) nomination as "Producer of the Year” for his work on her platinum selling album “The Visit”.

Brian has also accompanied Celtic music legends, The Chieftains, on several tours and has Produced several international Platinum selling albums for Greek recording artists Evanthia Reboutsika, Yannis Kotsiras and Panayotis Kalantzopoulos, including the soundtrack for A Touch of Spice the top grossing film in Greek cinema history.