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Tomas Fujiwara
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.
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Michael Formanek: New Digs
by Glenn Astarita
Michael Formanek has never been content to anchor a bandstand and call it a career. Over decades of work--from sideman stints with Stan Getz and Joe Henderson to the long-running Thumbscrew trio with Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara--he has operated as a composer and architect, building rooms rather than merely inhabiting them. New Digs recorded over two days in jny: Torres Vedras, Portugal, stands as an ambitious project via this seven-piece trans-Atlantic ensemble shaped by a precise sonic design.
Continue ReadingTomeka Reid Quartet: Dance! Skip! Hop!
by Jeff Cebulski
Spring arrives; along with the typical climactic inconsistencies, the jazz market blooms. One of the early blossoms is a minor label treat, Dance! Skip! Hop! from the cellist Tomeka Reid and her quartet. This could be a major season for the adopted Chicagoan Reid, who is also featured on an ECM album from pianist Craig Taborn, Dream Archives (ECM Records, 2026). Dance! Skip! Hop! Is the album of choice, the second album from the quartet that includes the guitarist du jour Mary ...
Continue ReadingTomeka Reid Quartet: Dance! Skip! Hop!
by Don Ball
If the fourth album from the Tomeka Reid Quartet proves nothing else, it is that the group has shown a remarkable capacity for getting better with each release. Not just in the strength and quality of the compositions, but also through the tightness and cohesiveness of the band. The title Dance! Skip! Hop! is apt for the album as the rhythms roll along through every song, all tying together like an album-long suite. With a band that tends ...
Continue ReadingEsmeralda Sella, Tomas Fujiwara, Roxana Amed, Wayne Horvitz & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
Jazz-inflected renditions of pop songs, Hammond B-3 romps, and magmatic textures make up a playlist which proves that great music rarely happens on major labels--or emerges from algorithms.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Roxana Amed “Salir de la melancolía" Todos los Fuegos (Sony) 0:16 Host talks 3:04 David Helbock, Julia Hofer feat. Mahan Mirarab “Sexy M.F." Faces of Night (ACT) 4:40 Host talks 7:15 Fabrizio Bosso Spiritual Trio ...
Continue ReadingMary Halvorson: About Ghosts
by Doug Collette
Since Mary Halvorson began her prolific affiliation with Nonesuch Records, she has refused to repeat herself except with a purpose. The simultaneous release of Amaryllis & Belladonna (Nonesuch Records, 2022) was the precursor to the expansive Cloudward (Nonesuch Records, 2024), while About Ghosts represents a retrenchment, albeit a productive one. On five of these eight cuts, the identical Amaryllis Sextet that appeared on the latter LP interacts smoothly with guest saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles. Such synchrony ...
Continue ReadingAdam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by John Sharpe
With For These Streets, trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill presents a sharply contoured, richly imagined statement for mid-sized band--his most complete vision to date. Drawing on an eclectic range of influences, from 1930s-era music, literature and film to the rhythms of contemporary urban life, O'Farrill leads a wily crew of his peers through a program that moves with narrative cohesion. Though not a suite in the formal sense, the album unfolds like one, the pieces linked by emotional throughlines and ...
Continue ReadingAdam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by Mark Corroto
Trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill distills a heady mix of inspirations into For These Streets, the debut release from his new octet. Drawing on music, literature and the ambiance of the 1930s, the album reflects his immersion in the era--Henry Miller's prose, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, and the sonic worlds of Stravinsky, Ravel, Carlos Chávez and Kurt Weill. None of this background is necessary to appreciate the music, nor is it mentioned in the packaging. But knowing it adds a ...
Continue ReadingJazz 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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Tomas Fujiwara and the Hook up - Actionspeak (2010)
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Photos
Music
Pack Up, Coming for You
From: MarchBy Tomas Fujiwara
Walls and Roses
From: Artlessly FallingBy Tomas Fujiwara
