P-Vine Records

P-Vine Records is an independent record label, started by Blues Interactions, a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi. It started out as a label specializing in blues, but has expanded to cover a wider range of music including, jazz, Latin music, funk, j-pop and garage punk.

The label has released some newly recorded materials, including the album, Original Chicago Blues, that featured Kansas City Red, Eddie Taylor, and Big John Wrencher^[1] However, its primary focus has been on reissuing vintage recordings. P-Vine has released materials from labels such as Chess, Delmark, Modern/Kent, Black Top, Alligator among many others. It was also responsible for releasing previously unreleased live and studio recordings by Parliament-Funkadelic.

Apart from P-Vine label, Blues Interactions has been running other labels including Substance and P-Vine NonStop. It has also been engaged in publishing magazines (such as Blues & Soul Records and Black Music Review) and books.

From late 1970s to throughout the 1980s, it also acted as a concert promoter organizing series of concerts entitled "The Blues Show" bringing artists like Albert Collins, Eddie Vinson, and John Lee Hooker to Japan. Around 2007, Blues Interactions reactivated its concert promoter business. In 2008, it organized the first P-Vine Blues Festival in Tokyo with Willie Walker and others on the bill.

Blues Interactions had been independently owned by the two founders until November 2006 when Space Shower Networks Inc., a cable television enterprise focusing on music, acquired 49% of its stock. In November 2007, Blues Interactions became wholly owned subsidiary of Space Shower and the two founders withdrew from management. The new management announced that the company would maintain the P-Vine label and its name.^[2]

Notes

External links

• Official website