Peter Kavanaugh’s approach to composing is informed by immersion in a century’s worth of music as a gigging musician. He developed a strong foundation playing the Great American songbook, blues, soul, gypsy jazz, bossa nova, country and every era of rock and pop. Combining elements of those genres with modern production tools, he offers an expanded range of styles designed to appeal to contemporary audiences across media formats.

Peter has written themes, cues, and underscore for short films, TV, podcasts, and appeared on camera as bandleader and guitarist for the performance of his original song “Pendulum Swing” on Discovery Channel’s Time Warp series.

As a recording artist, Peter arranged American songbook standards with a minimalist Cool Jazz take on two critically-acclaimed self-produced albums, 2015’s “Whisper Not” and 2016’s “Look for the Silver Lining,” which earned a 4-star review from DownBeat Magazine.

Peter studied guitar at the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood with the legendary Joe Pass (Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson), and music theory and arranging with numerous other teachers along the way.

Album Look for the Silver Lining reviewed in DownBeat Magazine.

Album Whisper Not reviewed in Jazziz Magazine.

“Poinciana” from Whisper Not included in the Jazziz Magazine summer CD sampler.

Appearance in Coast Magazine (Orange County, Calif.) about performance by John King’s Extreme Guitar Orchestra at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.