About

Hailing originally from Tokyo, Japan, Rintaro Mikami is a jazz drummer, percussionist and composer based in New York City. Known for a wide range dynamics, supportive orchestration, and very narrative performance and compositions, Rintaro draws from a jazz tradition to a range of influences from rock to world cultural music. 

     He started playing drums at the age of 12 and immediately showed his talent in local music community. After working as a drummer in rock music scene in Tokyo, his musical interest gradually gravitated towards Jazz. 

     In the spring of 2016, having been awarded a substantial scholarship to The Collective School of Music, Rintaro came to New York to pursue his musical journey, and continued his study at The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School with a substantial scholarship award and earned Bachelor of Fine Arts degree on December 2022. While he was pursuing jazz performance in drum set by studying with many world renowned jazz musicians such as Carl Allen, Ari Hoenig, Allison Miller and Kush Abadey, he has also gotten into percussions study with Keita Ogawa and Billy Martin, which allowed him to add unique voices into his style  through wide variety of rhythms and instruments. 

As a bandleader and composer, on September 15th 2023, Rintaro has released his debut album with the the pianist Henry Plotnick, the guitarist Omri Bar Giora, the bassist Bar Filipowicz, the saxophonist David Truilo, the harmonicist Ariel Bart, and the singer Lily Resnikoff. Album consists of eight original compositions of him, which reflected his childhood memory where he spend the time in small island and create one big completed story which is almost like a movie. The music video of the title track “First Fish” won both The Best Jazz Song Awards and The Best Lyrics Song Awards at 18th season of Munich Music Video Awards. He also succeeded a release show at NUBLU 151, which is one of the major music venues in NY.

    Over the years, Rintaro has been performing and recording over the world. In New York City, he is frequently getting calls for playing in some of representative jazz venues/clubs in the city such as Ornithology Jazz Club. In 2019, he joined a contemporary jazz band called Deeper Dreamer, which consists of himself, Ariel Bart, Taka Nawashiro, Hanna Inui and Vicious Cajado, and has done many shows throughout the year including 2020 Jazz Education Network conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana, and PJS Jazz Society’s Second Sunday concert March 8th 2020 in the First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon, curated by one of the historically renowned jazz bassists, Reggie Workman. Their first record “Deeper Dreamer” on September 1st 2020. In 2021, he appeared on Bern International Jazz Festival in Switzerland as a drummer of Layla Evangelia Group. In 2022, he formed co-leader trio with a guitarist Jacob Aviner and a bassist Sean Hannon and has done New England tour. Their first album is going to be released on July 21st 2023 from Adyharopa records. In February 2023, he joined the U.S. tour as a percussionist for a Slovakian singer Ester Weisnerova. 

     Rintaro is endorsed with a Japanese drums company, Canopus Drums, which has world renowned endorsers such as Brian Blade, Kenny Washington, and Harvey Mason. 

三上　麟太郎

1995年に東京都国立市に生まれる。12歳よりドラムを独学で始め、ライブ活動を始める。19歳の頃に出会った恩師の影響でジャズに傾倒し、2016年の春には奨学金を獲得し、ニューヨークのThe Collective School of Musicへ留学。2018年に同校を卒業後、新たに奨学金を獲得し、The New School School of Jazz and Contemporary Musicへ進学。在学中は、Allison Miller、Carl Allen、Ari Hoeningなどの数々の世界レベルのジャズドラマーに師事する一方で、パーカッションにも興味を持ち、グラミー賞受賞日本人パーカッショニストの小川慶太に師事。2022年にBachelor of Fine Artsの学位を取得後はニューヨークを拠点に活動。

2023年9月に自身初のリーダーアルバム”First Fish”を発表。アルバムは、オリジナル曲9曲で構成されており、自身が幼い頃に経験した離島暮らしにインスピレーションを元に作曲。同年10月にはニューヨークの名門クラブNUBLU 151 にてレコ発ライブを成功させる。タイトル曲のFirst Fishのミュージックビデオは、第18回Munich Music Video AwardにてThe Best Jazz Song 賞及び、The Best Lyrics 賞の2項目を受賞。

サイドマンとしても、Ornithology Jazz Clubなどに代表されるニューヨーク屈指のジャズクラブやライブハウスにおいて演奏活動を繰り広げる一方で、これまでに、国内外を問わず多くのバンドやプロジェクトに参加。2019年にはコンテンポラリージャズバンド、Deeper Dreamerのメンバーとして、Reggie Workman主催のPJS Jazz Society’s Second Sunday concert March 8th 2020 in the First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernonや、2020 Jazz Education Network conference held in New Orleans, Louisianaに出演。2021年には、Bern International Jazz FestivalにLayla Evangeliaのドラマーとして出演。2022年に、ギタリストのJacob AvinerとベーシストのSean Hannonと共に結成したNoonMoonで、ニューイングランドをツアーを成功させ、2023年7月にアルバム''"noonmoon”をリリース。2023年2月には、パーカッショニストとして、スロバキアのシンガーのEster Weisnerovaのアメリカツアーに参加。Carlin Lee Wind Symphony Projectのメンバーとしても活躍し、2024年2月にはEastern Wind Symphony Orchestraと共演。

2020年より、Canopus Drumsのエンドーサーを務める。