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Tomas Fujiwara

Tomas Fujiwara was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of seven, he fell in love with music while listening to the classic drum battle record, Rich vs. Roach. After two years of studies with Joyce Kauffman, Tomas began an eight-year course of study with legendary drummer and educator, Alan Dawson.

He has worked as a leader of and composer for various ensembles, as a sideman, as a composer for theatre, film, and dance, and as a teacher and clinician. With "a quiet energy that propels" (All About Jazz) and a style that is "both volatile and watchful" (New York Times), Tomas' "alert drumming has propelled some excellent ensembles on the new-music landscape" (New York Times).

His current projects include: Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, Taylor Ho Bynum / Tomas Fujiwara Duo (True Events, 482 Music, 2007, Upcoming release on Nottwo Records), The Thirteenth Assembly ((un)sentimental, Important Records, 2009), Taylor Ho Bynum Trio and Sextet (The Middle Picture, Firehouse 12, 2007, Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths, hatOLOGY, 2008, and Double Trio with the Stephen Haynes Trio, Engine Records, 2009), Matana Roberts' Mississippi Moonchile, Coin Coin, and Quartet (The Calling, Utech, 2006), Ideal Bread (Ideal Bread, KMB Jazz, 2008), The Throes (The Throes, CIMP, 2009), Matt Bauder's Day In Pictures, Positive Catastrophe (Garabatos Volume 1, Cuneiform Records, 2009), Red Baraat, Soo's Collage (Soo's Collage, Audioguy, 2006), Matt Welch's Blarvuster, Exegesis, and Aji No Moto.

Tomas has performed at venues and festivals across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East including The Moers Festival, Jazz Em Agosto, Tampere Jazz Happening, Rochester Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Suoni Popolo Festival, Urlichsberg Festival, Taktos Festival, Umbrella Festival, and Vision Festival. He has performed with Anthony Braxton, Arnie Lawrence, Joe Chambers, Norah Jones, Ravi Coltrane, Herbie Mann, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Mike Longo, Jimmy Greene, Joe Morris, Roy Campbell, William Parker, Burnt Sugar, Vernon Reid, Butch Morris, David Murray, Warren Smith, Irene Aebi, Kwaku Kwakye Obeng, Nicole Mitchell, and Vijay Iyer.

In 2008, Tomas toured the Middle East as part of the U.S. State Department / Lincoln Center program, The Rhythm Road. From 2000-2005, Tomas was a cast member of both the touring (2000-2003) and New York (2003-2005) companies of the Off Broadway hit STOMP.

As a teacher, Tomas has taught workshops, master classes, and drum clinics throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as well as private instruction for over 10 years.

Tags

15
Album Review

Mary Halvorson: Cloudward

Read "Cloudward" reviewed by Doug Collette


The title of guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's Cloudward alludes to the sense of optimism she has stated she felt when writing the bulk of the material in fall of 2022. And while this palpable sense of faith in the future is in marked contrast to the tangible air of eerie foreboding that surfaced so often on this LP's predecessors, the presence of largely the same personnel lineup--the Amaryllis Sextet-- provides a stable link of continuity. The reappearance of prior collaborators recording ...

12
Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara 7 Poets Trio: Pith

Read "Pith" reviewed by John Sharpe


In many ways, Pith, the second offering from drummer Tomas Fujiwara's 7 Poets Trio, pursues the course set by the eponymous debut (Rogue Art, 2020) with its lightly swinging lyricism, moments of reflective calm, and a restrained aesthetic which nonetheless permits adventurous forays. The unusual instrumentation, in which the leader supplements his trapset with Tomeka Reid's cello and Patricia Brennan's vibraphone, promotes a cool, airy feel, which at times recalls the chamber elegance and collective give and take of the ...

11
Album Review

Mary Halvorson: Cloudward

Read "Cloudward" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Guitarist, composer & raconteur Mary Halvorson could very comfortably (and rightfully) wear the sobriquet of “The Charles Mingus of Guitar" if she wanted to. But even that open-ended comparison would limit her as she outdoes herself again on Cloudward. Though it must surely be getting harder to top herself given the string of releases--the deliberately articulate schizophrenia Amaryllis and Belladonna (Nonesuch, 2022), the unbridled trio synergy Multicolored Midnight (Cunneiform, 2018), the crackling mad invention propelling 2018's Code Girl (Firehouse 12 ...

9
Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio: Pith

Read "Pith" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The instructions that came with Tomas Fujiwara's 2019 release, 7 Poets Trio (RogueArt), read, “I'd like to tell you as little as possible about this music before you listen to it... and create your own scenes for which these songs can be soundtracks." The same advice is warranted for Fujiwara's 7 Poets Trio follow up recording Pith. Historically, the talented composer and drummer writes music with his band mate's individual voices in mind. He does so in ensembles ...

2
Album Review

Illegal Crowns: Unclosing

Read "Unclosing" reviewed by John Sharpe


When a band of four leaders in their own right still exists over ten years after its inception, then something worthwhile is afoot. Illegal Crowns comprises the familiar American triumvirate of guitarist Mary Halvorson, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, who first crossed paths with French pianist Benoît Delbecq in 2012. Their third album Unclosing follows on from an eponymous debut (Rogue Art 2016) and the sophomore No-Nosed Puppet (Rogue Art , 2020). An accomplished blend of accessibility ...

2
Radio & Podcasts

An Eclectic Mix Of New Releases

Read "An Eclectic Mix Of New Releases" reviewed by Bob Osborne


On this show we present an eclectic mix of new releases from Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double, Gerald Cleaver Brandon Lopez & Hprizm, Eldad Tarmu, Michael Rabinowitz, Avi Granite 6, Ralph Alessi, Bobo Stenson Trio, and Gianluigi Trovesi & Stefano Montanari.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double “March On" from March On (Bandcamp) 00:46 Gerald Cleaver, Brandon Lopez, Hprizm “Mainsource C" from In The Wilderness (Positive Elevation) 32:37 Eldad Tarmu “Cafe Sole" from Tarmu Jazz Quartet (Queen of ...

5
Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double: March

Read "March" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This is the second release by drummer and vibraphonist Tomas Fujiwara's unique double trio with himself and Gerald Cleaver on drums, Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Taylor Ho Bynum and Ralph Alessi on brass, a group that can be configured as two trios, three pairs of instruments or something in between. The sound of the resulting combinations can come out ambient or raucous, but tends towards an angular prog-jazz fusion sound, that can pack the punch of ...

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10

Event

Jazz At Atlas Kicks Off 2019 Season With Thumbscrew

Jazz At Atlas Kicks Off 2019 Season With Thumbscrew

Source: James Keepnews

This cooperative project features a trio of gifted musicians and composers—guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/percussionist Tomas Fujiwara—performing their own compositions and selected standards with an exacting prowess wed to a liberated swing that is glorious to behold. Thumbscrew performs on Saturday, March 30 at 8 PM. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door—advance tickets are on sale now. Atlas Studios is located at 11 Spring St. in Newburgh, NY. Ample onsite parking is available. ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: SFJAZZ Collective, Bill Frisell, Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up, and more

Jazz this week: SFJAZZ Collective, Bill Frisell, Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features three noteworthy touring acts with widely disparate styles, plus a couple of Sunday big band performances, some free jazz, some vintage swing, and more. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, April 26 The SFJAZZ Collective opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. The all-star ensemble's featured composer this year is Miles Davis, and they'll be performing a repertoire drawn from their latest ...

81

Interview

Interview: Tomas Fujiwara

Interview: Tomas Fujiwara

Source: Ars Nova Workshop

For our final concert of the year, Ars Nova Workshop presents a fantastic double-bill with Ideal Bread and Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook- Up. A former student of legendary drummer Alan Dawson, Fujiwara has worked with artists such as Anthony Braxton, William Parker and Vijay Iyer. Fujiwara's quintet The Hook Up – with Brian Settles, Mary Halvorson, Jonathan Finlayson, and Danton Boller—released their first record, Actionspeak, on 482 Music earlier this year. Fresh off the road from several dates with ...

92

Radio

The Jazz Session #211: Tomas Fujiwara

The Jazz Session #211: Tomas Fujiwara

Source: AAJ Staff


90

Recording

Tomas Fujiwara and the Hook up - Actionspeak (2010)

Tomas Fujiwara and the Hook up - Actionspeak (2010)

Source: Something Else!

By Mark Saleski Many years ago, while stuck in traffic during the evening commute, I heard a radio segment on microtonal composer Easely Blackwood. I had read about things like microtones, 24-note equal tunings, and the like, but somehow none of the music had ever made it's way into my ears. Some of the pieces played that evening were so striking to my ears, so otherworldly, that I almost had to pull over onto the side of the road to ...

161

Performance / Tour

Tomas Fujiwara Exploring the Drums' Potential as an Orchestra in Miniature

Tomas Fujiwara Exploring the Drums' Potential as an Orchestra in Miniature

Source: Michael Ricci

The drummer Tomas Fujiwara works with rhythm as a pliable substance, solid but ever shifting.

Over the last five years he has established a busy profile on the experimental end of the jazz spectrum, where such perspective is vital; before that he was a cast member of “Stomp," the polymorphously percussive Off Broadway show. His style is forward-driving but rarely blunt or aggressive, and never random. He has a way of spreading out the center of a pulse while setting ...

70

Recording

Taylor Ho Bynum/Tomas Fujiwara CD Coming on 482 Music

Taylor Ho Bynum/Tomas Fujiwara CD Coming on 482 Music

Source: Improvised Communications

On February 27th, 482 Music will kick off its 2007 release schedule with True Events (482-1052), a recording of duets by cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. These longtime collaborators first worked together 15 years ago while still in high school, and have since performed together hundreds of times in a variety of ensembles. “I feel like I can anticipate what Tomas is going to play," says Bynum of their relationship in the liner notes, “yet I'm continually ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Cloudward

Self Produced
2024

buy

Cloudward

Nonesuch Records
2024

buy

Unclosing

Out Of Your Head Records
2023

buy

Pith

Out Of Your Head Records
2023

buy

March

Firehouse 12 Records
2022

buy

Everything Happens To...

BAG Production
2021

buy

Pack Up, Coming for You

From: March
By Tomas Fujiwara

Walls and Roses

From: Artlessly Falling
By Tomas Fujiwara

Videos

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