Leader
Projects
Tomas Fujiwara’s Dream Up​
Photo Don Stahl ©
The Noguchi Museum / ARS
Tomas Fujiwara Drums and Compositions
Tim Keiper Donso Ngoni, Kamale Ngoni, Calabash, Temple Blocks, Timbale, Djembe, Castanets, Balafon, Found Objects, and Other Percussion
Kaoru Watanabe O-jimedaiko, Uchiwadaiko, Shimedaiko, and Shinobue​
Patricia Brennan Vibraphone
“…a group that harnesses global folkloric traditions in a modern framework of his design.” Nate Chinen, Take Five​
“Dream Up” is a Roulette Intermedium / NYSCA commissioned suite for percussion quartet. The studio album of this music, with support provided by the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation, is out on Out of Your Head Records on September 12, 2025.​​
Solo for Acoustic Drum Set
Photo © Peter Gannushkin / DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET
Tomas Fujiwara Drums and Compositions
"A former student of the legendary drummer/instructor Alan Dawson, Fujiwara's approach to the trap set shares a passing similarity to one of Dawson's more famous pupils – Tony Williams. Like Williams, Fujiwara employs the drum kit as more than a mere time keeping instrument, adding nuances of shade and timbre to understated passages with a dynamic sensibility that suggests an orchestral awareness of space and sound."
Troy Collins, Point of Departure
Composed and improvised performances, limiting myself to a small acoustic drum set. Studio album, produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, in the works.
“The way this plays out harmonically is just one of many intriguing outcomes. The melodic development behaves as a relay system, the baton passed seamlessly between the trio members, sometimes unobtrusively, other times quickly tossed a short distance, causing thrilling instances of gaps left to the ear to fill in the blanks... Sometimes it’s a shared direction, and other times a giant splash in every direction at once. Pith is a recording that leaves you wanting more.
Dave Sumner, Bandcamp
7 Poets Trio (Rogue Art, 2019) and Pith (Out Of Your Head Records, 2023)
“Deliberately seeing double in the cause of exploratory jazz, Fujiwara brings together instrumentalists primed to rub each other in all the right and creatively wrong ways.”
The New Yorker
Triple Double (2017), March (2022), and March On (2023) originally released on Firehouse 12 Records, now available at SG3 Records.
Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up
Photo © Peter Gannushkin / DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET
Tomas Fujiwara Drums and Compositions
Mary Halvorson Guitar
Brian Settles Tenor Saxophone & Flute
Jonathan Finlayson Trumpet
Michael Formanek Bass on “After All Is Said”
Trevor Dunn Bass on “The Air Is Different”
Danton Boller Bass on “Actionspeak”
​“Insightful, invigorating, hard to put a finger on…music with a history, smartly informed and firmly moored.”
Nate Chinen, The New York Times
This ensemble has recorded three studio albums of my original compositions: Actionspeak (2010), The Air Is Different (2012) and After All Is Said (2015), all now available on Bandcamp.
Collaborative Projects
"It is neither hierarchical the way a soloist with accompaniment is, nor anti-hierarchical… The balance of governance and acquiescence is in constant flux, governed by a jointly shared sense of responsibility engendered by trust."
Bill Meyer, The Wire
Formed in 2012, this is a true collective band. 6 albums of originals, 1 album of Anthony Braxton material, and 1 album of covers, all on Cuneiform Records.
Improvisations, and compositions by Halvorson and Fujiwara, as well as a focus on compositions from “New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers” by Terri Lyne Carrington.
“The playing is not just typically excellent, it’s conversational and buoyant, engaging the listener not through forceful attention-grabbing but rather coherence and seductiveness.”
Trevor Hunter, NewMusicBox
Individually and collectively composed compositions and improvisations from over 30 years of music making.
“Together they form a collective of supreme talent, united by a lyrical streak which surfaces even amid invigorating
improv vigor.”
John Sharpe, All About Jazz
Compositions by all. Illegal Crowns (Rogue Art, 2016), The No-Nosed Puppet (Rogue Art, 2019), and Unclosing (Out of Your Head Records, 2023).
