Pat DiNizio is busy giving it all he's got as he sings into his microphone in his home studio while pianist Jay Rowe adds a few keyboard embellishments to an otherwise fairly faithful rendition of the James Bond movie theme "You Only Live Twice". They are in the midst of recording songs for a new 3-CD Pat DiNizio solo album to be entitled "This Is Pat DiNizio". Although the song sounds fine this way, Pat's perfectionism seems to be nagging at him. You can tell that he's still not particularly satisfied with it the way that it is at the moment. Then, as if out of nowhere, you can almost visualize the thunderbolt hitting him as inspiration suddenly strikes. With some major readjustments, the arrangement of "You Only Live Twice" soon becomes more Frank than Nancy Sinatra. All of a sudden everything clicks into place. Jay begins to switch into his best Sinatra-esque piano mode while Pat smiles approvingly. Pat is now clutching both his microphone and a lit cigarette in one hand while he conducts and plays "air piano" with the other one. Perhaps the only thing missing now is a cocktail for his free hand in order to achieve the utmost "Rat Pack" atmosphere . As Pat lends his crooning vocal accompaniment to a now swinging tempo, one really begins to feel like something magical is being conjured up here in these somewhat cramped studio quarters.

The songs being recorded today are intended for inclusion on the first CD in the forthcoming 3-CD collection called "This Is Pat DiNizio". The first CD in this set will be comprised of "Dark Standards" (vocal and piano). The second CD is called "A Boy And His Guitar" (vocal and guitar). The third CD is called "Smithereenventions" which is supposed to be somewhat of a surprise apparently but the title itself should give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect to hear on it. There will be approximately twenty songs per CD for a grand total of sixty songs altogether. "This Is Pat DiNizio" is a "limited edition" CD of 500 copies that you will only be able to order online at Pat DiNizio's website. The projected release date is July 15, 2005 (allowing for 4-6 weeks for delivery after its release date). A free fourth bonus disc ("One Man, One Car, One Guitar" - a live compilation CD) will only be offered to people who pre-order the CDs before Memorial Day, May 30, 2005. In a unique interactive marketing approach, Pat has been soliciting suggestions on his website for songs that people would like him to record for this exclusive 3-CD set.

Pat's "piano man" in this venture and the man bashing away on keyboards during this particular recording session is the very talented Jay Rowe. Jay modestly describes himself as "the poor man's Paul Schaeffer". Although Jay is obviously downplaying his considerable skills by offering such a quick and easy description, this turns out to be a pretty apt comparison. Yes, it's perfectly obvious that Jay and David Letterman's bandleader both have bald pates, but, more importantly, they both have the ability to play a variety of musical styles. When Jay isn't busy playing with R & B or wedding bands, he's jamming with many of the same jazz artists you typically hear on New York City's radio station CD 101. However, Jay claims to have also played rock 'n' roll when he first started out and he seems genuinely excited to be working with Pat DiNizio on this new project.

Pat and Jay appear to have great musical chemistry together and this becomes even more evident as the recording session continues. It isn't long at all before their combined talents begin to flourish and gel. As the day progresses, the duo hash out the song arrangements until each little "diamond in the rough" eventually becomes polished enough to turn into its own little song gem.

At the end of a long but extremely productive day, there are already nine potential songs in the can for the new album with more songs to be recorded later the following week. These cover tunes receive that special DiNizio touch and each song eventually metamorphoses into something that sounds uniquely "Pat-like" in the end. When Pat and Jay launch into the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl", the changed tempo and Pat's scat singing during its conclusion make it sound more like "Pat Sounds" than "Pet Sounds". The Beatles' "For No One" transforms into a seemingly improbable combination of a dirge and country & western with a solo thrown into the middle of it all that most closely approximates Floyd Kramer. While recording their version of "Days of Wine And Roses", Pat tries to give special visualization instructions to Jay beforehand. He attempts to evoke a particular world-weary mood by conveying his vision of a man waking up with a hangover who feels remorseful after having gone out for a pack of cigarettes and then not returned again until two days later. This mini-movie plot that Pat spins for atmospheric musical enhancement does seem to help elevate their performance of this classic movie song. At one point during the song's performance, Pat instructs Jay to slow down and not "go quite so jazzy". He says that the song is too important to him for it to be rushed through. In keeping with the "dark standards" theme of the first CD, Pat also has them perform "5 O'Clock World" as a bit less jaunty and sadder than the original version. "Wichita Lineman" and "My Funny Valentine" also receive their own definitive DiNizio and Rowe interpretations. By the time they get around to recording Burt Bacharach's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "This Guy's In Love With You", the songs seem like such a perfect match with Pat's voice that it's almost as if the tunes have been waiting for Pat to do them justice after all these years.

Pat continually sings along with all of Jay's piano playing in order to guide the tempo and to insure that there's a real live feel to the recordings. Even though he has seemingly "nailed" the vocal performances each time out with his guide vocal, he may still go back later on and rerecord any vocals that he feels are not entirely up to snuff. Pat may also layer on some backing vocals depending on the individual requirements of each song. However, his stated intention is to otherwise keep the songs as spare as possible. In fact, at one point during the recording session, Pat advises Jay not to get too elaborate with one of his piano solos and notes that they're not going for "War and Peace". He just wants them to get in and out of that particular song more quickly and to keep it simple. Pat later emphasizes this same point quite well with a cooking analogy stating that one doesn't want to make tomato sauce by adding too much sugar. This is not to say that there aren't any solos at all in these songs since Jay contributes several wonderful ones that meet with Pat's approval and add just the right amount of seasoning as needed.

In future recording sessions with Jay, there will probably be some more reinventions of classic Beatles tunes and other popular standards. Pat and Jay even took a stab at Gilbert O' Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)". Surprisingly enough, it actually sounded like it could be a worthy contender for the album and they made plans to work on it some more at next week's recording sessions. It should also be very interesting to hear the final results when Pat takes guitar in hand later on and covers some of his (and your) favorite guitar songs for the second of the three CDs. And I think it's safe to assume that Pat will include reinterpretations of some of his classic Smithereens songs into this musical stew as well.

Despite singing and rearranging other songwriters' tunes for this new CD collection, it's still quite obvious that "This Is Pat DiNizio" indeed as he puts his own personal stamp on your favorite songs. You know the name. You know the music. Put the two together and you have a winning combination. Double the pleasure. Double the fun. Triple the CDs. So be sure to surf on over to Pat's website and pre-order his new 3-CD limited edition album along with the free bonus CD while you still can.