Producer's Notes

It took over a year to complete the recording of the music on this CD and this is the first instance in some time that I've worked that way. The last time a solo pianist, also named Jones, first name Dillwyn, was the culprit. He'd call up and say he had a new tune and a day or so later would arrive at Downtown Sound to record it. It took a couple of years to record an album's worth of material.

With this Jones, first name Mike, it was a little different; he wasn't writing new material, he was trying to make old songs sound better and a careful listen will prove he managed to accomplish what he set out to do, often with thrilling results. This is a remarkable debut CD (he made an LP some years ago but Mike has changed a great deal since then). That's why we want you to have a look, and listen, in 1994.

This is an album of old songs and were it not for The Last Dance, they'd all be fifty or sixty years old, sometimes even older. And they are not only old, they are obscure. Yes, Stanley Kubrick and Wendy Carlos may have used Midnight in the final scene of The Shining but we're not exactly sure who even composed it, and neither is Wendy. We have credited it to Joe Haymes, it was his theme song during the big band era. ASCAP doesn't even know for certain about its authorship but I'm awfully happy with the way Mike plays it. Just like I'm happy about all the other selections. The songs may have sometimes been obscure or rarely played by a solo pianist but each one is a good one, perfectly suited to the way it is presented.

This is the way the record was made: Mike lives near Boston and spends most of his time performing at venues in that city. His old friend, John Kiehl, runs a couple of recording studios, both named Soundtrack; one in Boston, the other in New York. All the recording was done in the New York studio. John spends most of his time there these days and I just live down the street. Mike would drive in from Boston, usually on Sundays, and record all night long. We'd all listen to and evaluate the results and then Mike would refine or embellish a song and record it again a few weeks later. There are many versions of most of the selections on this CD but they are not Take 1, Take 2 and so forth. There was rarely more than one performance of a song at any given recording session but three or four versions usually existed, often separated by weeks and months of study and refinement. By the time we made the final choices, each selection was a gem. In some instances we used an early spontaneous performance. On other

s it might have been when it was played for the twentieth time. The only criteria used for selecting a performance was that it was both exciting and exceptionally well-played. John Kiehl must be singled out for special praise. He took time out from his frantic production schedule to supervise and have hands-on control of every electronic aspect of this CD and his input made for spectacular sonic results. Continued access to Soundtrack made this CD a reality. This is a recording we can all be proud of and, hopefully, it will astound listeners outside the Boston area. Mike Jones is an exciting young player and CHIAROSCURO is proud to release his debut CD.