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. 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 (Actionspeak, 482 Music, 2010 and a Spring 2012 release also on 482 Music), Taylor Ho Bynum / Tomas Fujiwara Duo (True Events, 482 Music, 2007 and Stepwise, Nottwo Records, 2010), The Thirteenth Assembly ((un)sentimental, Important Records, 2009 and Station Direct, Important Records, 2011), Taylor Ho Bynum Trio and Sextet (The Middle Picture, Firehouse 12, 2007, Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths, hatOLOGY, 2008, and a Fall 2011 release on Firehouse 12), Matana Roberts' Coin Coin, Ideal Bread (Ideal Bread, KMB Jazz, 2008 and Transmit, Cuneiform, 2010), Matt Bauder's Day In Pictures (Day In Pictures, Clean Feed, 2010), Positive Catastrophe (Garabatos Volume 1, Cuneiform Records, 2009), Red Baraat (Chaal Baby, Sinj Records, 2010 and Shruggy Ji, Sinj Records, 2012), Matt Mitchell's Central Chain, Amir ElSaffar's Within/Between, and Matt Welch's Blarvuster. His 2010 debut as a leader, Actionspeak, was called "insightful, invigorating, hard to put a finger on...music with a history, smartly informed and firmly moored. Mr. Fujiwara composes with a modern ear and an episodic approach: his tunes begin in one place and end someplace else, mutating in stages along the way." (Nate Chinen, New York Times) "Fujiwara's compositional subtlety brims with lyric detail and supple imagination, revealing an artist whose urbane writing is equal to his impressively nuanced drumming." (Troy Collins, Point of Departure)