Drummer, composer and educator, Tomohiro Mori was born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1992. He started playing the drums at age 3 and piano at age 5. Being raised by musical parents, Tomo was exposed to music at a very early age. His mother and father, who played piano and guitar respectively, formed a family band and played Beatles covers, in which Tomo was an active part of.
Originally, Tomo wanted to form a band with friends around his age. Although he initially did not have a strong interest in jazz, his pianist friend called Tomo to form a jazz band. Finally, he started playing jazz and formed a jazz band with his friends when he was thirteen years old. He has performed in gigs and music festivals around his hometown with this group.
When Tomo was seventeen, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music. He has studied with Ralph Peterson Jr., Terri Lyne Carrington, Kenny Washington, Rodney Green, Darren Barrett, Dave Santoro and Hal Crook.
Tomo has been a NYC based professional musician since September, 2015. In December, 2015, he released his debut album "Grand Slam". Also, he had an album release concert tour throughout Japan, with band members consisting of NYC musicians Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano, Tamir Shmerling on bass and Braxton Cook on alto saxophone. Tomo released his second album, "Uptown Bound" in December 2017 and he had an album release concert tour throughout Japan in January 2018. Tomo has performed at famous venues in NYC as well as US tour. As an educator, Tomo has taught students over Skype and at elementary schools in Japan, for people of all ages between 6 and 60 years.
森智大
1992年福岡県出身。音楽好きの両親の影響で, 3歳よりドラム, 5歳よりピアノを始める。13歳よりジャズバンドを結成し, 様々なギグ, 音楽フェスティバルに出演。17歳でボストン・バークリー音楽大学のオーディションに合格し, 奨学金を獲得する。2011年渡米し, バークリー音楽大学へ入学。
2015年バークリー音楽大学を卒業。同年夏にはKDDIのウェブCM"Sync Dreams"に出演し話題になる。同年拠点をニューヨークへ移し, "Grand Slam”, 2017年"Uptown Bound"をリリース。 ニューヨークから日本へミュージシャンを招聘し, 全国ツアーを定期的に行っている。これまでニューヨークの様々なライブハウス, ジャズクラブに出演, アメリカツアーも行う。
演奏だけではなく, 大学ジャズ研でのワークショップ, 小中学校での授業, オンラインレッスンなど教育活動にも力を入れている。
Photographer: Daichi Chohara