Michael Dion is a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

music and the owner of the California-based record label,

ITI Records ITI Records is a record label from Van Nuys, California that specializes in mainly jazz records. Background ITI's original owner was producer Mike Dion.All About Jazz 2012-09-0ITI Records Resurfaces After Many Years Dormant/ref> An article in the ...

. He also was the owner of Startup Marketing and has had directorial and managerial positions with record labels such as

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

Mobile Fidelity Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL or MoFi) is a record label specializing in the production of audiophile issues. The company produces reissued vinyl LP records, compact discs, and Super Audio CDs and other formats. History Recording engineer Br ...

and Valley Vue Records. He is also an author of several books.

Background

In the music business, Dion has worked for Texas-based wholesaler, Music Distributors Inc.. He was the founder of Startup Marketing, a San Diego music label representation and distribution firm. It was later acquired by Paulstarr. Some of the record labels he worked for were Springboard and Phonodisc. He also worked for

in various roles and was also director of field operations for the firm. In 1979, he began working for

as its Western regional sales manager. Working for the well-known audiophile record label, which was based in

Chatsworth, California Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area was home to Native Americans, some of whom left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish be ...

, he was promoted to the position of national sales director in early 1980. In December that year, it was announced that he was made director of its international sales and marketing. Towards the end of 1981 he had been promoted to the position of vice-president of international sales. In April 1985, he became vice-president of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, replacing Mark Wexler who relocated to the East Coast. He also held the upper executive position of vice-president and general manager of a small Californian record label Valley Vue Records, which was founded by Hillery Johnson.

ITI Records

In the early 1980s, he founded ITI Records, a Jazz record label. He also expressed interest in releasing other genres. One of them was classical. In 1998, Dion had a break from the industry having been recalled to military service as a result of the Bosnian and Middle East wars. After he retired from military service, returned to the music industry and his record label ITI records became active again.

Production

It was announced in the October 8, 1983 issue of '' Cashbox'' Michael Dion and Michael Grantham had formed a production company to produce jazz and classical artists. The name of the company was In The Interest Productions. Some of the albums he has produced are ''Blackberry Winter'' by Mike Campbell & Tom Garvin, ''Blue Sud'' by Marc Devine and Art Johnson. He was the executive producer for Cozzetti & Gemmill's album ''Soft Flower in Spring'' which was released in 1983. By the time his record label ITI records had 15 albums in its catalogue, he arranged a deal for a different genre, Dance! The act was Zone Patrol and the labels first venture into that genre.

Acts produced (selective)

Publications

Personal

He is married to Laura Evaneski, author of ''Gone Too Soon''.

Recent activity

In January 2015, he attended the Jazz Connect Conference that was held at Saint Peter's Church, New York City, located at 54th and Lexington. But because of the amount of attendees, the usual venue being the Hilton New York was changed to the Church.''Jazz Times''
Jazz Connect Conference Announces 2015 Event: Jan. 8-9
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dion, Michael American entertainment industry businesspeople Jazz record producers Record producers from Los Angeles Living people Year of birth missing (living people)