" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans' final major engagement (at the Korner) to produce a boxed set for the label. The two men hit it off, so when Hara decided to launch his own record company in 1992, Barkan, a veteran of many decades in the business, was an obvious choice as a collaborator.

Hara came to New York City, where Barkan (who had relocated from San Francisco) introduced him to a number of artists. Hara recalled, "My first recordings were by Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown, Lee Konitz and Claude Williamson. Since then, I've produced over 200 albums, many with the help of my friend Todd Barkan."

Hara's method of choosing artists is simple; he works only with his personal favorites. "I especially like piano trios with piano, bass and drums, as well as quartets adding saxophone or clarinet." He is a hands-on producer, working in concert with Barkan as co-producer. Hara chooses the songs and the artists for every session. Barkan's knowledge of studios and engineers (Katherine Miller has made valuable contributions for her audio skills) has been helpful, though he asserts that "Tetsuo makes all of the final decisions." Once recording is completed, Hara takes the music home to do the final remixing and mastering in his self-described Hyper Magnum Sound.

While the bulk of Venus artists are fairly well-known musicians to current jazz fans, there are sometimes a few surprises. Eddie Higgins, a veteran pianist, has been one of the label's most frequently recorded artists, with two dozen CDs as a leader. Hara explains, "I had very much enjoyed listening to some of