Federico Ughi is a Rome-born drummer and composer who has worked in New York since 2000 and is best known as the co-founder, with the multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, of the Brooklyn label 577 Records. He was born on October 11, 1972, and began playing drums at twelve. His 577 Records biography describes him as based between New York, Tangier in Morocco and Rome, and says he has performed or recorded in more than 30 countries. Wikipedia describes him as working primarily in free improvisation and jazz, and Discogs tags most of his releases Free Improvisation or Free Jazz.

At 21 he moved to England, where, per Wikipedia, he joined a quartet and studied with the pianist Paul Bley; that teaching link comes from Wikipedia alone and is not backed by a recording credit. The English years produced his first two records, both on the UK label Slam Productions: Unspecifications (1999), a trio of baritone saxophonist Matthew F. Morris, bassist Dafydd Lewis and Ughi recorded in July 1998, and The Space Within (2000), recorded that autumn at The Premises studio in London with Morris, alto saxophonist Steve Buckley and tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson, who is credited as co-producer. Musson would return on his 2019 album Transoceanico.

He arrived in New York in 2000. According to the label's own history, he met Carter soon afterward, and the two began a series of house concerts in his apartment at 577 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn before starting 577 Records in 2001. Catalog number 577-1 is their duo Astonishment, recorded March 16, 2001. The next three catalog numbers were his own: Ulers Two (2002), I Thought It Was The End Of The World Then The End Of The World Happened Again (2002), a live spoken-word set with the poet Steve Dalachinsky recorded at the Knitting Factory on November 12, 2001, and South Of Brooklyn (2003), a sextet record billed to Options with Carter, tenor saxophonists Nathan Hanson and Matt Glassmeyer, guitarist Sean Moran and bassist Dan Fabricatore.

The partnership with Carter is the spine of his catalog. Discogs lists 27 releases that bill the two together, from Astonishment in 2001 to Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2 in 2024: duos, trios with trombonist Steve Swell (Concrete Science, 2004) and with bassist William Parker, and a recurring quintet with clarinetist Patrick Holmes, pianist Matthew Putman and bassist Hilliard Greene that made Telepathic Alliances (2017), Telepatia Liquida (recorded live at the 2017 Forward Festival at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn), the Electric Telepathy pair and the Telepathic Mysteries pair. The Forward Festival began in 2015, per the label, to mark Carter's 70th birthday, and Discogs credits Ughi as the recording engineer on Leo Genovese's Forward (recorded live at the festival on March 29, 2024) and Solo Brooklyn (recorded January 18, 2025).

With Carter and Parker he made The Dream (2006, recorded July 12, 2005) and Navajo Sunrise (Rudi Records, 2013), recorded live at Area Sismica in Ravaldino in Monte, Italy, on December 19, 2010. Three live albums from a May 2015 tour, Vol. 1 Erie Live!, Vol. 2 Toronto Live! and Vol. 3 Rochester Live! (all 2017), add the multi-instrumentalist Watson Jennison. A later ESP-Disk' release, For Those Who Cross The Seas (2023), documents a March 5, 2006 set at Zebulon in Brooklyn of compositions by keyboardist Alon Nechushtan, with Carter, Parker, trumpeter Roy Campbell and saxophonist Sabir Mateen.

Under his own name he has led a run of small-group records. Songs For Four Cities (Skycap Records, 2012) pairs alto saxophonist Darius Jones with pianist Eri Yamamoto and bassist Ed Schuller, recorded May 27, 2011. The Federico Ughi Quartet album (FMR Records, 2013) features cornetist Kirk Knuffke, alto saxophonist David Schnug and bassist Max Johnson, with the music credited to Ughi. Heart Talk (2016) adds Jeff Snyder's electronics, and Transoceanico (2019) is a trio with Musson and bassist Adam Lane, reviewed at the Vinyl District and graded an A. His most recent album under his own name is Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You (Vol. 1) (577 Records, 2024), with keyboardist Leo Genovese and bassist Brandon Lopez, recorded April 24, 2022.

His ties to Italy continue on record. In 2009 he made two albums for the Rome label Terre Sommerse: Air, a trio with vibraphonist Francesco Lo Cascio and saxophonist Alípio Carvalho Neto recorded in Rome on March 4, 2009, and Harafè, a quartet led by trumpeter Angelo Olivieri and Neto. Outside those strands he played in the Minneapolis group Fantastic Merlins, which recorded Look Around (Innova Recordings, 2007) in March 2005, and guested on the electronic act Blue Foundation's 2019 album Silent Dream. His 577 Records biography lists Rolling Stone, All About Jazz, The Wire, DownBeat, Time Out New York and the Village Voice among the outlets that have covered his work.

Ughi's catalog sits inside free improvisation and free jazz. Across the 73 releases Discogs credits him on, 69 carry a Jazz tag, and the style tags most often attached are Free Improvisation (35), Free Jazz (30) and Avant-garde Jazz (16). His 577 Records biography names Ornette Coleman as a major influence and mentor, and says he blends the New York avant-garde with a sense of melody drawn from the Italian classical and folk traditions of his Rome childhood; that account comes from the label's own biography rather than from a recording credit, so the Coleman connection is stated as his own account. The Vinyl District's review of Transoceanico compares the trio to 1960s ensembles such as the New York Art Quartet and hears echoes of Coleman's classic trio work in its raw-toned improvising, with Ughi's interplay with bassist Adam Lane recalling Tony Oxley and Rashied Ali.

The catalog has a few genuinely rock- and electronics-adjacent corners, and they are the exception. Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You (Vol. 1) is tagged Jazz and Rock on Discogs, with styles including Noise Rock and Alternative Rock as well as Free Jazz and Avant-garde Jazz. The Moon's 11 01 11 (2012), with guitarist Adam Caine, carries the same pairing. Duo (2018) with synthesist Jeff Snyder and the New York United records with electronics player Tobias Wilner add electronic textures to a jazz rhythm section. Set against 27 co-billed releases with Carter and dozens of other jazz-tagged records, these read as extensions of a free-jazz practice rather than a separate rock identity, and the label he runs, the festival it hosts and the players he records with are all part of the improvised-music scene.

He is also a producer and documentarian of that scene: Discogs credits him with production, photography or recording on records where he is not the drummer, including Sabir Mateen's Prophecies Come To Pass (2006), Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders' Shifa - Live At Cafe Oto (2019) and Leo Genovese's Solo Brooklyn (2026).