by Paul Bacon
HAVE YOU MET MR. JONES?

Mike, that is, ------ piano player from the Boston area? If not, now's the time. This list of tunes is just about as ecclectic as his style; a touch of stride, a taste of McKenna-ish, thundering bass, a dizzying passage tossed off with Tatum-like articulation and time, a liberal dash of humor - and still what comes through is all Mr. Jones.

He makes me think of a basic principle of jazz that was never better expressed than by Jabbo Smith: when asked how he managed the dangerous flights that marked his playing, he said

"I play a note and go where it takes me."

Exactly. Some of the runs and explosions Mike Jones rips through with such elan sound perilous indeed, but he emerges unscathed and looking for new trouble - no problem.

There is nothing tentative about his playing. It is assertive and nervy, and it swings. Two-fisted isn't quite it; on some numbers it's three-fisted, maybe, as in Linger Awhile, which starts in an elegiac mood and becomes a barn-burner, showering notes like sparks in all directions. But nicely under control.

In the Gershwin medley (They Can't Take That Away From Me) he practically shouts "It's Erroll Garner time!" and sails into a pure sample of the master, just for the hell of it, and he slips in a bit more on Ellington's, Squeeze Me.

I'm continually amazed at the technique modern jazz pianists take for granted; when you contemplate the great technicians - Tatum, Peterson, Bud Powell- who stood out even from monster piano players like Fats Waller (who didn't need, or miss, that kind of technique, no doubt), and then think of the jazz pianists of today, you must conclude that what's happening is what's happening all over. In the classical concert world, 9-year-old-girls play like Casals, 20-year-old pianists enter competitions and they all play like Horowitz. The barriers have been pushed far out.

This record was made live- no studio, no second thoughts. The prodigies that Mike Jones strews around are simply how he plays. What he thinks of, he can execute- and he executes some things that must come from some kind of musical impulse beyond or below thought.

I suppose it's obvious, but it didn't hit me at first; his left hand is often straight string bass accompaniment, played, to my ear, precisely as a bass player would do it-in the all-over-the-strings style of modern bassmen. His right hand is storming around the keyboard, and the left hand (maybe more like electric bass, at that) is right down on the deepest notes. He leans toward those far-south notes anyway, regardless of the style he's in.

He does play some wild stride on Oh! Lady Be Good, and other variations in the left hand; but he doesn't ever resort to spare accent-here -and-there tinkling. That hand is for hooks and knockout punches, not light jabs.

When did you last hear Ma (He's Making Eyes at Me) played on a piano? Ordinarily sung by soubrettes, it makes a fine half-tempo swinger, tongue well in cheek once through, and then more thoughtful.

Runnin' Wild is suitably wild; it is followed by Van Heusen's Nancy (With the Laughing Face), an extreme change of pace, played with great delicacy. Some other tunes are the lovely I'm Old Fashioned and I'll Close My Eyes seldom done without a singer, but a pianist's meat.

Anyway, listen to this record; it's by Mr. Jones. He can play.

A FEW WORDS BY JOHN KIEHL

Mike's performance on this CD was originally captured on a portable Sony DAT recorder with one stereo microphone. The entire performance from the evening of 23 December was then digitally transferred from a DAT to a ls, the album was sequenced and finally digitally transferred back to a DAT for manufacturing. Sonic Solutions digital audio workstation DAW. During the transfer the 48 KHz sampling frequency of CDs. With the material in the DAW it was possible to work on the tape; equalization was added to restore low frequencies to their nominal levels, the album was sequenced and finally digitally transferred back to a DAT for manufacturing.

AND SOME FROM MIKE JONES

Since 1990 I have been fortunate to play at some of Western New York's finest jazz clubs when home for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The past few years it's been the Marquee at the Tralf in Buffalo, a state of the art club with a great piano. These shows have become something of a tradition and it's a treat I look forward to as part of my holiday celebrations each year. The people at the club, particularly Ed Smith and Tony Marfione, have been wonderfully supportive and I look forward to many more exciting musical evenings at their fine establishment.

The media in Buffalo has been equally supportive, particularly Ted Howes and John Werick of WBFO 88.7 FM, Jeff Simon and Mary Kunz of the Buffalo News and Michelle Cumbo at WKBW Channel 7. all these people really make a difference when I'm in Buffalo.

John Kiehl remains my guardian angel. He is directly responsible for nearly every success I've enjoyed over the past nine years, from my first LP, which he produced, to this latest project. John has always been there every step of the way with his wise insights and technical brilliance. Finally, thanks are also in order to the publicity juggernaut that is the Jones Family; Andy, Teresa, Tim and Patrick. Without them I'd be playing to an empty room.

A FEW MORE WORDS FROM HANK O'NEAL

This is only the second CHIAROSCURO CD release that was not supervised in a studio or on location by Andy Sordoni or myself. It exists because Mike Jones had the presence of mind to record himself at the Marquee at the Tralf.

Live recording is always a gamble if you are planning to release the results, but in this case, there was no initial plan to make a record; Mike just wanted to make a good DAT for his own personal use. He didn't think about the recording, there was no pressure, he just played and let the little machine do its best to capture the music he was making. The DAT did it's job, and how he played that night! My guess is Mike knew right away that night was a special performance. Maybe there was a young lady in the audience he wanted to impress, perhaps there were some critics with their notebooks in hand. No matter the reason, he played that night. The only question was whether or not the DAT captured everything.

In January, Mike telephoned and told me about his special DAT. To say he was enthusiastic is an understatement. I should point out that Mike is always very enthusiastic. He came to New York, John Kiehl made some rough transfers and one listen was enough to convince me this would be Mike's second CHIAROSCURO CD. The playing was phenomenal, the piano was in good shape and the sound was fine on the rough transfer, but I knew John could make it sound even better.

The next step was to arrange for interesting cover art. It had been some years since any CHIAROSCURO artist sat for Elizabeth Bennett. Mike is less than an hour away from Elizabeth's studio in Newburyport; he posed at least half a dozen times for her and she fashioned an exquisite portrait.

I then approached Paul Bacon for further assistance with the cover. He was very taken with the illustration and provided a suitably appropriate design. A word or two about Paul is in order for the uninitiated. Paul is perhaps the foremost designer of book dust jackets in the country. In the last forty plus years he has produced the jackets for over 7000 books. This is probably some kind of record but, speaking of records, Paul was also a very busy record cover designer in the early 1950's. Check out the Riverside and Blue Note LPs in your collection. Its the same Paul Bacon.

If you go back even further, into the late 1940's, you can also find the literary Paul Bacon in the pages of that legendary magazine, The Record Changer. While George Avakian wrote about traditional jazz and blues, Paul tackled Thelonious Monk, Ike Quebec and more modern music. And what he said Mike Jones Runnin' Wildly was not only perceptive and sensible but extremely well-written. I knew Paul had met and listened to Mike during the 1994 edition of the Ultimate Caribbean Jazz Spectacular and liked what he heard. Design and writing seemed a natural in this instance so I asked him to do the liner notes as well, his first jazz writing assignment in a minute or two. He had a good time putting his thoughts on paper in the form of words instead of drawings and has promised to do more and, of course, we couldn't be more pleased.

All these comments, from Paul, John Mike and myself give a few examples of what goes into assembling the finished CD you hold in your hands. Its just part of the process, a few of the highlights. We could have talked about the photo on the inlay card; Mike runs the Boston marathon every year...but that's another story.