Tomas Fujiwara has made his mark as a master of advanced drumming, previously through his work with Anthony Braxton and currently with the power trio of avant-garde jazz, Thumbscrew. He’s also proven to be a bandleader and composer that takes jazz to new places. Now, he is leading an all-percussion band, his Percussion Quartet, pulling together his two primary strengths into a music that transcends the jazz, world folk music and free-form styles that he touches on with this group.
Dream Up (September 12 2025, Out Of Your Head Records) is the introduction of his Percussion Quartet to the world, rooted in his childhood trips to his father’s homeland in Japan where he was imbued with sounds of an assortment of exotic instruments.
The idea of an all-percussion ensemble is not an innovation: think Max Roach’s M’Boom from the 70s, for instance. Fujiwara himself was part of an all-percussion ensemble as part of the off-Broadway musical STOMP for five years. But Fujiwara made his own stamp on the idea when putting together his own such group, including Japanese percussion instruments performed by Kaoru Watanabe and various instruments originating from Africa and other parts of the world performed by Tim Keiper. Patricia Brennan mans the vibraphone, while Fujiwara plays a drum set.
Every track is an excursion into fresh sounds wrought from ancient folk forms. There’s nothing here that throws off a ‘been there done that’ vibe, every performance is designed to make your ears perk up – especially from the way Keiper and Watanabe are harnessed.
“Dream Up” floats along peacefully as if dreaming, but with a nocturnal quality. But it’s how that sonority is created is where Fujiwara imagination is next-level. The base harmony – a repeating figure – is strummed out on a ngoni by Keiper as Brennan freestyles over it. Fujiwara’s rolling rhythm is amplified by Keiper’s and Watanabe’s determined percussion on “Mobilize” while Brennan is responsible for all the notes this time.
The instruments played on “Blue Pickup” are rich in tonalities, Keiper playing what appears to be a balafon, a type of xylophone from Western Africa and other various percussive devices that produce ringing timbres. A low rumble forms the underpinning of “Komorebi” as Brennan sets the harmonic key and everyone else builds off that foundation, getting louder and louder until it all evaporates.
“Recollection of a Dance” is sure enough danceable, but Fujiwara’s beat is a more dynamic kind of funky and as the tune picks up pace, Watanabe enjoins Brennan with a shinobue flute. Fujiwara goes one-on-one with Brennan for the first half of “Columns of Leaning Paint,” Keiper and Watanabe joining in once a nice groove is established and the melody takes shape.
“Tapestry” is a longer-form composition – or so it feels – which is unusual and tricky thing to do in an all-percussion ensemble, but Fujiwara leverages his understanding of these instruments to not only make it work, but to make the arrangement compelling from start to finish. And lastly, “You Don’t Have To Try” is built around a circular, balladic figure that Brennan caresses perfectly, again accompanied by Keiper on ngoni and later buttressed by Watanabe fervidly soloing on shinobue.
The all-percussion ensemble might have been around a while, but there’s probably no one better today than Tomas Fujiwara for taking this idea further. With Dream Up, he showed the great extent of his musicianship, knowledge and imagination.
Pre-order/order Dream Up from Bandcamp.
*** Tomas Fujiwara CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
- Soft Machine – ‘Thirteen’ (2026) - March 4, 2026
- Devin Gray – ‘Hz Of Gold‘ (2026) - March 2, 2026
- Triple Blind – ‘Cold Walk’ (2026) - February 27, 2026
