Jazz Articles about Tomas Fujiwara

About Tomas Fujiwara

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: After All is Said

Read "After All is Said" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
April 29, 2015

Tomas Fujiwara is one of the busiest drummers in New York City, with memberships in cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's Sextet, baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton's Ideal Bread and the cooperative trio Thumbscrew, featuring acclaimed guitarist Mary Halvorson and veteran bassist Michael Formanek, among other projects. Formed in 2008, Fujiwara's flagship ensemble, The Hook Up, is one of the Downtown scene's most consistently creative and engaging acts.After All is Said is the band's third recording for 482 Music, following The ...

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: After All Is Said

Read "After All Is Said" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 27, 2015

Drummer Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up features artists who are among the more prominent representatives of new directions in jazz and improvisation. Here, the leader acts as an instigator and propulsive factor via his rhythmically shaped works, comprised of rolling, tumbling and splintered movements, etched with budding thematic developments. Guitarist Mary Halvorson's distinctive phraseology comes to the forefront amid her liquefying and bent notes, eliciting otherworldly backdrops in parallel with her dynamic soloing sprees with the hornists. The ...

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: The Air is Different

Read "The Air is Different" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
October 30, 2012

Drummer Tomas Fujiwara inhabits the fertile Brooklyn scene alongside guitarist Mary Halvorson, a frequent collaborator who is part of his band, The Hook Up; alongside cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, both are also featured on collective The Thirteenth Assembly's outstanding Station Direct (Important, 2011). So it's not surprising that similarly smart multifaceted compositions, delivered through tight but sufficiently loose arrangements that allow space for left field solos, are high on the agenda on the band's sophomore effort. With only the bass ...

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: The Air Is Different

Read "The Air Is Different" reviewed by Robert Bush

by Robert Bush
May 16, 2012

Boston-born and Brooklyn-based drummer Tomas Fujiwara has been stirring things up in the New York City creative music scene for some time now, working with a wide variety of players including cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and guitarist Mary Halvorson.His working ensemble, Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, features Halvorson--one of the brightest voices in the new-music continuum to emerge in years--along with muscular bassist Trevor Dunn, tenor saxophonist Brian Settles and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson.Fujiwara is an ...

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: The Air is Different

Read "The Air is Different" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
May 15, 2012

Dedicated to his grandparents and inspired in by part by family remembrances, The Air is Different is the second recording from Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, following Actionspeak (482 Music), their impressive 2010 debut. The youthful drummer's flagship ensemble continues to explore the inroads made on its previous album, plotting a memorable course through Fujiwara's fully realized, nonlinear compositions.The quintet's lineup has barely changed since its inception four years ago, with bassist Trevor Dunn now filling Danton ...

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: The Air Is Different

Read "The Air Is Different" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 2, 2012

Brooklyn non è più solo un quartiere di New York; da qualche anno, jazzisticamente parlando, Brooklyn è un “suono". Si, è vero, le categorie valgono quel che valgono, e spesso servono solo per puntellare pensieri critici pericolanti. Ma persino i più distratti, all'alba del 2012, si saranno accorti che al di là dell'East River, di recente, c'è stato parecchio trambusto; e che un nutrito drappello di musicisti, una sorta di famiglia allargata, si riconosce ormai in un'estetica e in un ...