His daughter Rashida Jones, who will graduate from Harvard tomorrow, says that her father was in many ways similar to a normal Dad, albeit a well-connected one.

"I did a lot of plays in high school--he refused to let me do a play without taping it and sending it to all of his friends," she says. Rashida's parents divorced when she was 10, and she says she spent about an equal amount of time with each growing up.

Rashida laughingly relates that there was no fear of her father being a stage parent, since "he is not an actor," but that she "would always approach him" when she wanted to work on piano chords.

Rashida adds that her father was relaxed and low-key compared to her high school friends' parents, many of whom were also stars.

"A typical birthday would be hanging out in the front yard, balloons and a cake, music playing, nothing more than that," Rashida says.

Running With the Youngsters

Jones' success as a producer today rests in part on his ability to keep himself mentally and physically in step with much younger musicians.

He has seven children ranging in age from 4 to 44, and two scars on his forehead are reminders of his 1974 surgery for two life-threatening brain aneurysms, which left him unable to play the trumpet.

Still, friends say that Jones' energy and enthusiasm remain overwhelming.

"He is younger than you and me combined," says Keith Clinkscales, 33, the president and CEO of Vibe, a magazine of urban music founded by Jones. "There are times when he is hanging out with me and I just have to let him go."

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jones said that the most overrated virtue is celibacy, a rather unusual statement for a 64 year old.

"He knows how to run the night," Clinkscales says. "That comes from his old bebop back-in-the-day upbringing."

Jones is also a 20 year practitioner of hatha yoga. He lifts weights, runs on a treadmill and on some mornings does 200 pushups under the guidance of his personal trainer.

During the '60s and '70s, Jones earned legend status for his willingness to stay up four or five nights in a row with fellow producer Rod Pemberton to get albums out before deadline.

Twenty years later, Jones still possesses this energy, say those who are closest to him.