News

Accolades For Critical Essay

Mark’s scholarly analysis of Bob Dylan’s song “Visions of Johanna,” which only appeared on this website was discovered by several scholars around the world. Richard F. Thomas, the George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics at Harvard University wrote: “Mark, I thought your essay was brilliant. You should submit it somewhere. Thank you for your analysis and the depth of your analysis.” Stephen Pickering, a long time Dylan expert, tough, curmudgeonly intellectual critic and author of “Bob Dylan Approximately,” and “Bob Dylan: A Commemoration,” praised the essay as such: “Your piece on Visions of Johanna is quite elegant.”

Essays Published in New Book & Tai Chi Panelist

After having studied with Kung Fu master B.P. Chan for seven years and having written several lengthy essays about him, Mark was honored to be asked by author Ron Lambert to have them included in his 2024 book, “Honoring the Legacy of BP Chan.” Mark’s writings take up a significant portion of this marvelous, informative book.

Panelist with Ron Lambert at the 2025 Tai Chi Festival, Warwick, NY

In the summer of 2025, Mark was honored to be asked to be on a panel to discuss the teachings of B.P. Chan at the Tai Chi & Qigong Festival in Warwick, NY, where the former Tai Chi Farm was located. Mark and two other former students of Chan’s shared their experiences with the storied late kung fu teacher in front of a crowd of tai chi practitioners who attended the festival.

Music Compositions Performed

In 2025, the Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra performed two MJ compositions from his songbook “21st Century Mark.” One performance was at the renowned NYC jazz club, Birdland, and the other was at a Carnegie Hall sponsored event at the YIVO Institute that featured guests Anat Cohen and Steve Bernstein. Mr. O’Farrill indicated that he intends to perform more of the Jones pieces in the coming year as well as possibly invite Mark to deliver a lecture on music composition at The New School in NYC where Arturo is a professor.

New Visual Artworks

Mark has been working on a series of abstract ink paintings that were inspired by his long time passionate study of Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings that started in the early 1970’s. Jones intends to expand the size of these studies and introduce color to the compositions. In addition, Mark has worked on dozens of photographs taken around his property and adjacent state parkland in Putnam Valley that also embrace a mystical, East-Asian vibe through the careful abstract compositional arrangements of the objects on the picture plane and sensitivity to color and light.

Poetry Book Finally Being Published

Mark’s book of collected poems, “The Cry of the Lonely, the Song of the Poet,” has finally been published and is available for purchase on the Purchase Page. Included in it are also some of his early Symbolist and Surrealist paintings and drawings as well as later East-Asian-inspired works and commentary and analysis of the poems.