*** Mike Jones

RUNNING WILD

(Chiaroscuro)

A hilarious Type A personality, Mike Jones runs the requisite laps up and down the keyboard. The latest "find" of producer Hank O'Neal, whose label boasts scores of solo albums by Earl Hines and Dave McKenna, Running Wild is a recording he unearthed of a live date in a Buffalo club. Like most solo pianists from New England who play standards, Jones echoes McKenna, particularly in the energetic yet legato use of the stride left hand. Although he can also rip Tatum-esque lightning bolts and cross-chop the format like Oscar Peterson, speed is not really at issue. It's Jones's playful and original treatments of the oldies that make his choices fresh and engaging. "Ma, He's Makin' Eyes at Me" takes on new connotations as a ballad. His tempos spar and feint, up and down, like a runner's pulse, but his syntax is always polite and his melodies correct.

-- Fred Bouchard

(Mike Jones, "house" pianist, plays solo Tuesdays through Fridays from 5 to 9 p.m. and is joined by Billy Novick this Saturday, October 25, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at the Hotel Bostonian at Quincy Market.)