Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up
Out Of Your Head Records

As Third Coast Percussion and So Percussion prove, there's little about the idea of a percussion quartet in classical circles that's unusual, and certainly the impact of Steve Reich has been considerable for the body of material he's created for percussionists to perform and draw upon. A percussion-based ensemble is a comparative rarity in jazz, however. Drumming legend Max Roach left a serious mark with his groundbreaking M'Boom, yet the number of percussion outfits in jazz that have followed in its wake has been modest—which makes Tomas Fujiwara's Dream Up all the more welcome.

The NYC-based Fujiwara's been having an insidious influence for years as a member of others' bands (the long-time Thumbscrew member recently drummed on trumpeter Amir ElSaffar's New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal release and plays on the upcoming Tomeka Reid Quartet album dance! skip! hop!), but he's also methodically forged an innovative career as the leader of Triple Double, 7 Poets Trio, and other outfits. Dream Up—both the name of the band and title of its debut—partners him with vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, Japanese percussionist and flutist Kaoru Watanabe, and African multi-instrumentalist Tim Keiper, who plays donso ngoni, djembe, balafon, and other ear-ticklers. Anyone thinking a percussion ensemble lacks a melodic dimension need only consider the presence of Brennan's vibes and Watanabe's shinobue (a Japanese transversal bamboo flute) within the mix.

Rather than bolt from the gate, Dream Up pulls the listener in with the reflective title track, shimmering vibes setting the tone before the others enter to flesh out the mystery-laden fantasia with an ostinato donso ngoni pattern, kit and hand drum accents, and cymbal flourishes. The aggressive “Mobilize” is perhaps more characteristic of the quartet, given its wedding of the leader's muscular pulse to the step-wise entrancement of vibes and percussion, Fujiwara's bomb-dropping cymbal strikes a recurring element. As also happens in “Ritual Pace,” a freewheeling matrix of sound is generated by the four, but the music lumbers forth like a synchronized machine.

A funky African feel emerges during “Blue Pickup,” the four again attentively weaving elements into a gripping, at times convulsive whole and demonstrating the timbral richness of which it's capable. In “Komorebi,” the whoosh of Watanabe's shinobue relocates the album to Japan with a painterly meditation fleshed out by bells, chimes, koto drums, vibes, and other percussive detail. Tension swells as the piece develops when the background grows ever turbulent and vibes floats carefully above the fray. Africa meets hip-hop in “Recollection of a Dance” when mbira and other percussive elements intone against clockwork vibes and a shuffling beat. The tune quickly explodes, however, into a stunning throwdown reminiscent of a ‘60s free jazz free-for-all when Watanabe's woodwind roars over Fujiwara's volcanic pulse. Contrasts in volume and intensity between the nine pieces aside, compositional form doesn't preclude explorative invention, and real-time improvisation is as key to the band identity as structure. The energy-stoked penultimate setting “Tapestry,” for instance, manifests a clear identity but also builds in gateways for multiple directional avenues to be pursued. A final surprise arrives at album's end when “You Don't Have to Try” opens in a dreamy, almost lullaby-like mode before morphing into a lilting, bluesy march, donso ngoni plucks, shimmering vibes, whooshing shinobue, and drum and cymbal splashes operating in lockstep one more time.

January 2026