Tom Toyama has performed with trumpeters Ira Sullivan, Claudio Roditi and Terrance Blanchard; saxophonists Paquito D'Rivera and Frank Wess; pianist Kenny Drew Jr.; guitarist/vocalist Amit Chatterjee; percussionists Mongo Santamaria, Robert Thomas Jr. and Joe Zeytoonian; bassists Edgar Meyer, Felix Pastorious, Don Coffman and Charnett Moffett; drummers Codaryl Moffett, Jonathan Joseph and Satoshi Takeshi.
Toyama earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Indiana University and a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami. And he also completed all course work except the thesis for his second Master of Music in Jazz Studio Writing at the University of Miami.
His private studies include jazz vibraphone from Ed Saindon and Dave Samuels; jazz improvisation from Dave Baker, Kenny Barron, Hal Galper, Barry Harris, Vince Maggio, and Randall Dollahon; jazz composition from Ron Miller, classical music composition from Dennis Kam, and jazz arranging from Gary Lindsay and Jerry Gates, vocal arranging from Gary Lindsay, Bill Elliott, orchestration from John Van Der Slice and studio engineering from from Gary Lindsay and Ken Pohlmann. He studied classical percussion with George Gaber, Richard Johnson, Robert DeMello, Thomas Stubbs, and former Boston Symphony Orchestra percussionist Arthur Press. And studied orchestral conducting from Thomas Sleeper.
Tom Toyama has been featured at jazz festivals, performing arts centers, clubs and events such as the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the International Association of Jazz Educators Conferences, Queen Elizabeth's visit to Miami; Summit of the Americas; Black Entertainment Television's Jazz Discovery, WLRN Public Television's "Expressions" and "Art Street," and the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.
Tom presented his “Solo Jazz Vibraphone Mastery Clinic” at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in NYC, at the University of Illinois in Urbana, at Indiana University in Bloomington, at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, SUNY Fredonia, PAS Western New York and PAS Florida Broward Chapters and at the University of Miami..
He also performed at the 2006 & 2010 Festivals Internacional de Percusión in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was recently at the 2010 Ecuador Jazz Festival in Quito and Cuenca and at the 2011 Llanos Percussion Festival in Venezuela.
