Kunitachi College of Music
Honda was born in Miyako, Iwate. He started playing piano at age five and studied at the Kunitachi College of Music, where he played in a quartet with Kazunori Takeda. By 1969 he was recording under his own name with a trio. He performed with Sadao Watanabe in 1973 and then formed Native Son with Kosuke Mine, which toured internationally. Other credits include performing or recording with Hiroshi Murakami, Hiroshi Fukumura, Motohiko Hino, Shigeharu Mukai, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Eddie Gómez and Eliot Zigmund. His son is jazz musician Tamaya Honda.