JENNY SCHEINMAN

LABEL SPOTLIGHT
Libra Records
by Ken Waxman
“All projects have their own stories and I now have
more than 60 stories I can tell,” explains pianist/
composer/bandleader Satoko Fujii when asked about
her recording career. More than 32 of these stories are
available from Tokyo-based Libra records, a label she
and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, founded
in 1996. Although the pair occasionally record for other
imprints, Libra reflects Fujii’s most personal projects:
duets and trios with Tamura and other Japanese and
Western musicians; solo albums; records by her New
York and Tokyo big bands; her avant-rock-free jazz
combo and a quartet in which she plays accordion.
Although Fujii, who attended both Berklee
College of Music and New England Conservatory
during the mid ‘80s and early ‘90s, respectively, and
Tamura, who had been a member of Toshiyuki
Miyama’s New Herd Orchestra, one of Japan’s best
known jazz bands, had extensive recording experience
- “the biggest reason we started this label was that we
got tired of looking for labels that would release our
recordings,” she reveals. At that time most record
companies had certain fixed ideas of how jazz sessions
should sound and look. She recalls one firm suggesting
she wear a fancy dress and surround herself with
“good looking guys as sidemen.”
Libra is a small operation, which usually presses
1,000 copies of each release, with tasteful CD covers
Zakopane
Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo
LISTEN UP!
Saxophonist/flutist ROXY COSS has become one of
the most unique voices of her generation. A native of
Seattle, WA, Coss graduated in 2008 from William
Paterson University on a full Presidential Scholarship.
She then moved to New York where she played with
Louis Hayes and the Clark Terry and Claudio Roditi
Big Bands. She is also on trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s latest
record (Water and Earth, HighNote). Her eponymous
debut, featuring all original material, came out in 2010.
Teachers: Rich Perry, Gary Smulyan, Clark Terry,
Harold Mabern, Mark Taylor, Anne Drummond, Rich
DeRosa, Ingrid Jensen, Nathan Davis, Rufus Reid.
Influences: Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley, John
Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis,
Art Blakey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lee Morgan,
Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Mark Turner, Kenny
Garrett, Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor, Bach.
Current Projects: Working on a Miles Davis songbook
project for the spring; Jeremy Pelt Band; DIVA Jazz
Orchestra; Roxy Coss Quintet; Colleen Clark Trio;
Danny Rivera/Matt Chiasson Big Band.
By Day: Practice, play, compose, teach.
Eto
Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York
I knew I wanted to be a musician when... I realized
everything else was so boring!
Dream Band: Nat King Cole, Freddie Hubbard, Kurt
12 March 2013 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
designed by Masako Tanaka. To devote full attention to
the music, Fujii produces Tamura’s CDs and he hers.
Sessions recorded in NYC are done at Brooklyn’s
Systems Two studio because Fujii likes its piano.
Business dealings are straightforward as well. For a
project under Fujii or Tamura’s leadership, they hire
the musicians and pay all expenses. For other CDs,
such as Under the Water, Fujii’s duo piano record with
Myra Melford, or Rafale with French musicians who
helped compose the material, costs are shared and
profits divided accordingly. Available from a variety of
distributors in Japan, Europe and the US or from its
website, Libra is officially located in Tokyo because
that’s where a close friend of Fujii’s has the key to a
small warehouse and can send out requested discs.
Named Libra for Fujii’s astrological sign - “Natsuki
is Leo and as you know there is a Leo label already,”
she jokes - the imprint’s idiosyncrasies extend to its
numbering system. “The first three numbers tell whose
project it is and how big the band is and the last three
numbers are continuous,” Fujii notes. “For example:
Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo, Zakopane is Libra 216-
027; 2 means a Satoko project - Natsuki’s project is a 1
- 16 means there are 16 musicians in the band and 027
means this is the 27th Libra CD.” Vulcan is probably
the label’s bestseller. It features the trumpeter and
pianist with two Japanese rock musicians, including
drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. All Libra CDs
can be downloaded from iTunes and while there are no
Libra LPs yet, “we’d love to do one,” says Fujii.
Other well-received Libra CDs include discs made
with Fujii’s American trio of drummer Jim Black and
Rosenwinkel, Bobby Timmons, Paul Chambers, Art
Blakey.
Did you know? I have a soft spot for The Beatles,
Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, ‘90s hip-hop/R&B
and gangsta rap.
For more information, visit roxycoss.com. Coss is at Smoke
Sundays. See Regular Engagements.
Roxy Coss
Watershed
Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble
Lakecia Benjamin
A streetwise New York City native born and raised in
Washington Heights, LAKECIA BENJAMIN has
become one of the most highly sought-after players in
soul and funk music. Charismatic and dynamic as both
a saxophonist and bandleader, she has worked with
David Murray, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, The Roots,
Macy Gray and more. She has performed on four
continents and her extensive recording credits include
saxophone and arrangements for Santigold, Maurice
Brown, Clark Terry Big Band, Krystle Warren and Talib
bassist Mark Dresser. “She has fantastic performance
energy, a great ear, a musical fearlessness that allows
her to travel into new territories, has an amazing work
ethic and is constantly building bridges,” notes
Dresser. “Her label is dedicated to releasing her various
projects, which makes it part of a long tradition of
improviser/composer/performers self-producing.”
Although the pianist tells most of her stories via
Libra, she won’t turn down the opportunity to work
with other labels “if we find a label that loves our
music and that we can trust,” she avers. For instance
the newest disc by her Ma-do ensemble is on Poland’s
Not Two. Another departure was KAZE’s Rafale, put
out cooperatively in 2011 by Libra and Circum-Disc,
the label of the Muzzix musicians’ collective, based in
Lille, France. KAZE consists of Fujii, Tamura plus two
French musicians: drummer Peter Orins and trumpeter
Christian Pruvost.
“The most important fact about Libra and Circum-
Disc is that both record companies are headed by
musicians, so there’s passion in the way things are
done and freedom that we don’t find elsewhere,”
explains Orins. “Nowadays musicians almost always
lead their project from the beginning to the release, so
I think that running our own record company lets us
manage the way we want to do it. Working with Satoko
is one of the simplest musical experiences I know. Even
if the music we make is highly elaborate and
purposeful, the way we do it is very natural and
without pressure. We simply play while being very
focused on one another.”
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 46)
Forever
Gato Libre
Kweli, among others.
Rafale
KAZE
Teachers: Wessell Anderson, Steve Wilson, Gary Bartz,
Bruce Williams, Reggie Workman, Billy Harper, Bill
Saxton.
Influences: Jackie McLean, Maceo Parker, John
Coltrane, Kirk Whalum, Charlie Rouse, Sly and the
Family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire, Alice Coltrane.
Current Projects: I have been working extensively
with my band Soulsquad, promoting songs off my
debut album Retox (Motéma).
By Day: Practice, compose, meetings and rehearsals.
I knew I wanted to be a musician when... the first time
I laid eyes on a saxophone. My best friend had an alto
saxophone and from that moment on I became fixated
with it.
Dream Band: Bootsy Collins, Herbie Hancock, Eddie
Hazel, Greg Errico, Earth, Wind & Fire horn section,
Rachelle Ferrell.
Did you know? I only eat pizza crust. It’s my fave. I
dislike the taste of pizza and garlic knots.
For more information, visit lakeciabenjamin.com. Benjamin
is at For My Sweet Restaurant Mar. 4th as part of Lady Got
Chops Festival. See Calendar.