From the liner notes, written by the leader: Just The Contrafacts was a project borne of the 2020 lockdown. I was stuck at home and unable to play with other human beings. As the months dragged on, I needed some kind of musical outlet. I started giving myself the exercise of writing contrafacts; that is writing new melodies over the chord structure of standard tunes from the Great American Songbook. It was something to keep my mind occupied and my creativity active in the absence of gigs. After writing a fair number of melodies, I thought it would be fun to write sextet arrangements and as I started doing this, I thought why not make this into an album? Being a mental escape of sorts from the tedium and anxiety of the early lockdown period, I gravitated towards humor and whimsy in these pieces. The world for me was heavy enough and I was using music as a way to sooth myself by playing around and having fun. A lot of the titles of the tunes reflect this attitude. The title and cover also point to escapism to a different time and a tongue-in-cheek nod to film-noir. I hope, dear listener, that some of this fun and light-hearted-ness comes through and can serve as a balm for your soul in these strange times