Ken Music was a jazz record label based in Japan that distributed CDs in Japan, Germany, North America, and Great Britain. The company was founded by Kenichi (Ken) Fujiwara in 1989 as a subsidiary of Matsuka USA, which, among other things, manufactured industrial robotic sewing systems for car seat manufacturers. The label flourished from 1989 to 1992.

Ken artists

Conrad Herwig Lee Conrad Herwig III (born 1959) is an American jazz trombonist from New York City. Biography Herwig began his career in Clark Terry's band in the early 1980s and has been a featured member in the Joe Henderson Sextet, Tom Harrell's Septet and ...

Walt Weiskopf Walt Weiskopf (born July 30, 1959 in Augusta, Georgia) is an American jazz saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, author and educator. He has released sixteen albums as a leader, and performed on countless other albums as a sideman. He has ...

(1959) * Peter Leitch (born 1944) * Gust William Tsilis (born 1956) *

Jim Snidero James J. Snidero (born May 29, 1958 in Redwood City, California, United States) is an American jazz saxophonist. Performance career Snidero grew up in the Washington DC area (Camp Springs, MD), then attended the U of North Texas and performed in ...

Dave Stryker Dave Stryker (born March 30, 1957) is an American jazz guitarist. He has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and has been a featured sideman with Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff, and Kevin Mahogany. Career Stryker grew up in Omaha, Nebr ...

* Axel Grube *

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

Salvatore Bonafede Salvatore Bonafede (born August 4, 1962) is an Italian composer and pianist. Early life Son of jewellers, Bonafede was born in Palermo on 4 August 1962. He started playing the piano at the age of four and became interested in jazz thanks to hi ...

Grover Mitchell Grover Mitchell, born Grover Curry Mitchell (March 17, 1930 – August 6, 2003) was an American jazz trombonist who led the Count Basie Orchestra. Biography Mitchell was born in Whately, Alabama, but he moved with his parents to Pittsburgh, Pen ...

Ron McClure Ron McClure (born November 22, 1941) is an American jazz bassist. Early life McClure was born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. He started on piano at age five, and later played accordion and bass. McClure studied privately with Joseph I ...

* Brian Lynch * Renee Manning *

Toshiko Akiyoshi is a Japanese–American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Akiyoshi received fourteen Grammy Award nominations and was the first woman to win Best Arranger and Composer awards in ''Down Beat'' magazine's annual Readers' Poll. ...

Ted Rosenthal Ted Rosenthal (born 1959) is an American jazz pianist. He was featured on David Sanborn's series '' Night Music'', and has performed worldwide, both as a leader and as a sideman with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil ...

Phil Markowitz Phil Markowitz (born September 6, 1952 in Brooklyn, New York) is a jazz pianist and educator. Discography As leader * ''Sno' Peas'' (Ken Music, 1991) * ''In the Woods'' (Passsage, 1996) * ''Taxi Ride'' (Passsage, 1998) * ''Catalysis'' (Sunnyside, ...

* Fabio Morgera *

Eiji Nakayama Eiji is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Eiji can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "prosperity, peace" *, "great, peace" *, "great, second" *, "eternity, next" The name can also be written in ...

Joanne Brackeen Joanne Brackeen (born Joanne Grogan; July 26, 1938) is an American jazz pianist and music educator. Music career Brackeen was born in Ventura, California, United States, and attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. She was a fan of pop p ...

Eddie Gómez Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977. Biography Gómez moved with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. ...

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, ...

Kenichi Fujiwara, founder

Executive producer : Ken Fujiwara was an avid jazz fan who had worked as a

bandboy Bandboy (also expressed as band boy) is a bygone term for a job similar to for what now is known as a "roadie." They set up, tear down, and maintain equipment, and music. They help out backstage with tasks such as making sure that towels, drinks, ...

for the

Count Basie Orchestra The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 195 ...

on Japanese tours. He was originally from

Tamano is a city located in southern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The city was officially founded on August 3, 1940. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 60,101 and a population density of 580 persons per km². The total area i ...

, south of Okayama. Conrad Herwig's connection and first meeting Fujiwara was on a tour of Japan with

in mid 1980s. Fujiwara became of fan of soloists

, Brian Lynch, and Herwig. He wanted to produce and engineer recordings. Jujiwara moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to do so. Fujiwara was an employee of Matsuka Industries in Japan, a relationship that led to launching Ken Music label. Ken's office at 301 West 57th Street, Suite 26A, Manhattan, New York City, was, at the time, the Matsuka USA headquarters. Other producers : Gust Tsilis ''(né'' Gust William Tsilis; born 1956) worked for Ken Music, where he produced over 40 CDs.

Matsuka USA Inc.

Matsuka USA Inc. incorporated in the state of New York on November 1, 1989, and changed its name on November 21, 2001, to Upright Enterprises, Incorporated. Upright (Akira Matsuka, President; Mieko M. Ajiro, Agent) registered as a foreign corporation in California on February 28, 1995 and kept its corporate domicile in New York. As of 2012, its California foreign registration was forfeited, although it is an active corporation in New York.

Foreign distribution

Ken had a distribution agreement with Bellaphon Records in Germany, which gave the Ken Artists a stronger presence in Germany and all of Europe.

Reissues

The label also reissued recordings for labels that included SeaBreeze.

References

{{Authority control Record labels established in 1989 Japanese record labels Jazz record labels