Bob
Jones:
The Early Years
Bob was born in Hawaii on O'ahu of a haole father and a Portuguese local girl mother. He
co-lead his guitar band in high school after switching to guitar from piano which he had
studied from age six.
Bob's professional career began as lead guitarist and instrumental arranger for We Five.
He recorded two albums with them including the hit single "You Were On My Mind".
We Five's first album and single sold more than two million copies each and has since gone
on to become a classic of the folk rock period. Bob was one of the first to use an electric twelve string
on recordings. The band appeared on national television numerous times and toured the
United States and Canada extensively starting with The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars.
At the end of We Five Bob found himself in the middle of the hippie revolution in San
Francisco. There he founded an innovative horn based R&B band called Southern Comfort.
He was lead singer, arranger and drummer for the band which produced one album for
Columbia Records.
The Middle Years
It was during this period that Bob first met legendary blues guitarist Michael Bloomfield. He recorded five
albums with Michael on which he played drums, guitar and sang. They also toured the United
States and Canada for ten years including playing the Newport Jazz Festival. Bob is
interviewed extensively in a book about these years between 1970 and 1980 called
"Michael Bloomfield, If You Love These Blues, An Oral History".
During this period of time Bob also recorded with blues legends Mississippi Fred McDowell,
Nick Gravenites, Sam Lay, Harvey
Mandel, Otis Rush and Taj Mahal. He also played on two Brewer and Shipley albums.
Also during the early part of this period Bob played drums, percussion and sang with Alice Stuart in a band called Snake
with bassist Karl Severeid. The group toured Europe twice ( once opening for Van Morrison
) and made albums for Fantasy Records.
In 1979, mostly due to the depressingly high body count among his musician friends because
of chemical dependencies, Bob returned to college to study computer science. Bob then went
on to sucessful work as a programmer, first in mainframes and then on PCs. Bob continued
to play with his band in Marin County, California called Tao Jones. The legendery funk
bassist Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power played with Tao Jones for about a year during
the eighties.
In 1986 Bob moved to Los Angeles where he formed Bob Jones and Hard Drive. He toured
Finland with this band in 1995.
In the middle ninties Bob returned to Hawaii to care for his aging parents after they had
strokes and heart attacks. Here he reformed Hard Drive with musicians from Hawaii.
Now
Bob continues to play and record with Hawaiian and mainland musicians. He has added horns
to Hard Drive so that he can again enjoy the fusion of blues and funk that he so dearly
loves. Work will continue on their CD when he completes the restoration of his
grandfather's historical house on Maui. |
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| Books and Discography Books
Michael Bloomfield, If You Love These Blues, An Oral History. Interviewed or mentioned on
pages: 172, 173, 200, 202, 207-213. Picture on page 209
Discography
You Were On My Mind, Make Someone Happy - We Five - A&M Records
Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore West, Don't Say I Ain't Your Man, It's Not Killing Me -
Michael Bloomfield - Colombia Records and CDs
Count Talent and the Originals - Michael Bloomfield - TK Records
Analine, Between A Rock And The Ground, Michael Bloomfield - Michael Bloomfield - Takoma
Records
Living In The Fast Lane - Michael Bloomfield - Waterhouse CDs and Records
Sam Lay In Bluesland - Sam Lay -
Fred McDowell And His Blues Boys - Fred McDowell - Arhoolie Records
My Labors - Nick Gravenites - Colombia Records
Righteous - Harvey Mandel - Phillips Records
Right Place, Wrong time - Otis Rush - Bullfrog Records
Southern Comfort - Bob Jones - Colombia Records
Weeds, Tarkio - Brewer and Shipley - Kama Sutra Records
Believing - Alice Stuart and Snake - Fantasy Records
Let Me Party With You - Bunny Sigler -
The Edge, Jealousy - The Edge - Adolescent Records |
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Photo by Lisa Law. Used by permission: flashingonthesixties.com
Photo by Lisa Law. Used by permission: flashingonthesixties.com
Photo by Lisa Law. Used by permission: flashingonthesixties.com
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