Bob Jones career in the music business started in May 1967, he secured a DJing job at his local youth centre and gained his first 'club' appearance in 1971. His music policy was, as it is now, the highest quality black music, featuring soul, dance and jazz, and he has been recognised worldwide as one of the first DJs ever to play jazz to a dance floor as early as 1971 He has played in numerous clubs and venues across England, Europe and the world. In 1981 he played on the pirate radio stations in Essex and London, and quickly gained a reputation for playing quality black music and was asked to join Blues & Soul magazine as their jazz correspondent in 1983. Approaced the start of the 90's my the giant Motown records to do some remix and production work, Bob has went on to work with the likes of Al Green, The Temptations and Bobby Womack to name but a few. Being a founding members of The British Rhythm & Blues Association - the BRBA, Bob went on to work as a black music consultant for the mighty BBC in London as well as Channel 4 TV. In October 1993, Bob started his own club night called 'The Surgery' in London's West End and every Saturday for 2 years the club was full, winning an award reconising it's status as 'Best Soul Club in the UK'. In December 1995 he opened a successful soulful dance night at the Bluenote club in London's Hoxton Square thus going on to win Best British Club DJ' for 95, 96, & 97, seeing him preform on front of 30,000 clubbers in the latter year. Going on to produce compilations selling over 50,000 copies as well as having the first 30 years of his career chronicalled by the now huge BBE records, Bob's A&R skills were once again called to duty for the much celebrated and now defunct Chillifunk records, who's credible cover of Teddy Pendergrass soul classic "The More I Get The More I Want" went massive across the worlds dancefloors. His in-depth interviews with top soul singers Terry Callier, Millie Jackson, Will Downing, and the late great Isaac Hayes, have become the thing of legend and the last two years have seen Bob take the radio waves by storm again. Without much further ado, here is Dr. Bob Jones....so soulful it hurts. EM: Where do you call home at the moment and what makes it home? JONES:  I live on the South Coast of the UK in the county of West Sussex. My home is about 10mins walk from the beach and because I live on the right side of The South Down hills, the climate is very mild and is so good, and the sea nearby makes it a near perfect place to live. EM:  What’s your current bedside read? Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (Arena Books) by Dee Brown. An amazing read, I’m on my second copy as I lost my original and needed to read it again and again. Also reading Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano, a true story about the crime syndicate on today's Naples  streets. EM: What’s the soundtrack to your Sunday afternoons? To be honest I don’t listen to much music on my ‘free’ weekends as every other weekend I’m either working on a radio show or at a gig. My free Sundays are the perfect time to chill. Walks on the beach and catching up watching movies from my vast film collection. Do you still buy vinyl and do you think it’s due a comeback in today’s digital age? Being a self confessed vinyl junkie, vinyl to me has NEVER gone away. Yes I still buy vinyl, perhaps not as much as I used to back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, but I still collect 45’s and Albums. These are mainly on independent black music labels from across the globe. It’s like a heavy addiction without being life-threatening. There are more vinyl collectors today and today’s youth are happy embracing both vinyl and digital recorded music. I’m not sure how many people are aware of this, but you’ve been DJ’ing for well over 40 years. With that broad of an experience, can you tell us the major (or slight) differences between the DJ culture in your earlier days and how it is now? Right from day one DJ’ing for me is an extension of my record collection and back in the day it was about providing the musical backdrop to the UK youth’s upbringing. Also back then you had to play slow records in your set so people could get together close on the dance-floor. This is something, which is never thought about nowadays. Also back then you complimented your music with the steady use of a microphone. Nowadays more technical skills have to be incorporated into a DJ’s performance with the accent on mixing and providing music with a continuous beat. Today’s DJ seems to be more of a technician, whereas when I started musical knowledge was also an advantage. Today’s spinners are almost more machines than human beings. EM: Who are your most respected peers while working in this industry? Too many to mention here, but my personal faves are:  Charlie Gillet, CJ Macintosh, Harvey, Lofty, Ashley Beedle, Phil Asher, Paul Trouble Anderson, Andrew Weatherall, Danny Rampling.Snowboy, Kev Beadle, David Mancuso, Kerri Chandler, DJ Pope & Oji, Sam ‘The Man’ Burns, Walter Gibbons, Glenn Underground, Kenny Carvajal, Jihad Muhammad, Dennis Ferrer, Kenny Dope and Louie Vega, DJ Spen, Quentin Harris, Karizma. Frankie Knuckles and Tony Humphries. What elements of the scene from back in the day do you miss the most? The mood of the audience back then was far more positive and less of a negative attitude that today’s punters seem to have. Too many people in today’s industry are willing to criticise for no reason at all. Where as back then people came to see you play your music and performance. Too may people nowadays thin k they know better than you, when all the time they know 'sweet  fa'. What has been your favourite place to travel while DJ’ing and why was that experience so memorable? I remember my first visit to Japan was amazing, the people there knew more about me than I cared to forget about. Also I had monthly residencies in Cork (Ireland) and St Petersburg (Russia) for about 2 years in the late 90’s. The punters in both cities are incredible, both have a laid- back, easy feel about them and both cities embrace Black Music as their own. EM: How large is your record collection? And what are some of your most prized vinyl albums? I stopped counting my records years ago, but at a guess around 60,000 tunes, mainly Blues, Jazz, Soul and Soulful Dance LP’s and 12inch. My 45 collection is around 7 - 8000.  My prize albums have to be my mono Bluenote Jazz collection and also a mono pressing of John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Step’ on UK Atlantic. These vintage pressings are priceless to me. EM: With the growing recession in the States, do you think people long for “real” music and deeper soul? Real music always shines through when times are hard. A recession sorts out the music industry and only the strong survives. It drives the music I love more ‘underground’, but the end result makes the music and the scene connected with it much stronger and the ‘real deal’ becomes the order of the day. With the rising stars in Duffy’s and Amy Winehouse’s career, they all seem to pay homage to Northern Soul for today’s youth. How would you compare their music to the first invasions of soul? I consider Duffy and Winehouse as ‘blue–eyed soul’ singers (i.e. white people singing black music) but they don’t figure in my playlist at all and never will. I cannot deny they can sing, but they are just commercial substitutes for the real thing and what’s really happening beneath the streets. EM: Who has been you favourite person to work with in the past? And who stands out as a memorable character? I’ve enjoyed working with various people over the years, particularly Terry Callier, from Chicago and Sam Dees from Tennessee. Both artists have incredible voices that reach deep inside and both have the ability for putting pure emotion onto vinyl, their lyrics and songs cut incredibly deep. EM: When did you kick off your radio career and can you tell us more about that transition in your career? I started in Pirate Radio (illegal radio) in the UK in the late 70’s and early 80’s on London stations JFM (Jazz Funk Music), Horizon, Solar and Kiss Fm. When Kiss Fm went legal in 1990 I gained my own ‘Surgery with Dr Bob Jones’ for almost 10 years. Then joined BBC Radio London where II had a show for 6 years. EM: We know you’re a big fan of radio, but are you currently hosting or producing any regular radio shows at the moment and if so, where can we find them? I present a monthly freestyle Surgery mix on Samurai Fm and regularly guest on Solar Radio and Colourful Radio. All are London based net and Satellite stations. Being on the forefront of UK Soulful House throughout the 80’s/90’s and being one of the main players at the much-celebrated “Chilli Funk records”, how do you see the popularity of house music for the future? Waxing or waning? House Music, or as I prefer to call it ‘Inspirational Dance’ is constantly evolving and changing. It has to, to keep the music and scene connected to it, moving forward in a positive direction. The music has it’s ups and down and often gets dissed by people who get bored of it, but haven’t a clue which direction to take next. There is always a constant flow of quality music, artists and performers out there, mainly beneath the surface of the streets in the ‘underground’. You just have to dig a little deeper to find it. House music is never waning, it’s constantly waxing. EM: What gets you excited with today’s music scene? Hearing new music, and new voices and performers make my feel good factor rise. There are so many people, writing, singing and producing amazing black music. Also I love the fact that the majority are involved with independent outlets. It’s so incredible that I can use the Internet to access all this brilliant talent EM: Lastly what does the future hold for Dr Bob Jones? I’m producing and writing songs for my own solo album. I’ve just compiled some Jazz Cd’s to accompany my good friend DJ, musician, producer and all round nice guy Snowboy’s book on the History of The UK Jazz Dance Scene. The book, From Jazz Funk And Fusion To Acid Jazz - The History Of The UK Jazz Dance Scene will hit the streets in Japan and the UK later this year and I’ll be touring Japan, playing Jazz Dance sets in 2010. I’ve just completed a music reference map showing Black Music in all its genres from the sound of the drum to the present day. It’s a learning tool for anyone interested in the history of today’s black music from its roots to today and beyond. My long running club ‘The Surgery’ has started a monthly residency at East Village, in London’s Great Eastern Street EC1 on the 3rd Sunday of each month, the next 3 dates are 17th May, June 21st and July 19th- 2009. I’m still a resident DJ at Southport Dance Weekends @ Pontins Holiday Centre Ainsdale in May and November each year, also resident at Modern Soul Weekenders at Pontins Holiday Centre Prestatyn in March each year. Plus I’m spinning across UK & Europe at various Clubs and Festivals- full info at www.doctorbobjones.com and www.myspace.com/drbob06. Yes you could say life for the good doctor Bob Jones is satisfying soulful, thank you very much.  End.... *** For more info, check out Dr. Bob's radio show at: www.samurai.fm/drbobjones and also his myspace page at: www.myspace.com/drbob06.