Billy Jaz is a native San Francisco DJ who first manned the decks in 1988 and hasn’t stepped down since. His introduction to music came as a child when his dad would play jazz records around the house. When young Billy started out on his own musical this early introduction and ensuing passion for jazz helped him choose a snappy DJ name so he could stand out from the crowd. But, like many of his contemporaries, his first musical love affair was with hip-hop. It was only when he heard “Good Life” by Inner City in 1990 that he was locked onto the house groove, where he has stayed for the duration of his career. In 1994 he landed a residency with prolific Bay Area DJs Julius Paap and Rick Preston at a party called Soul’d Out. In ’96 and through to ’98 he played a residency at San Francisco nightlife staple DNA Lounge. In 1998 Billy put his varied tastes to work when he set out to promote his own events, Groove Connection, Elevated Soul, Subculture and Electrik Mayhem. During the heady ‘90s his tastes extended from Masters At Work and Mood II Swing on the NY garage side to Derrick Carter’s Chicago bump and Ritchie Hawtin’s stark, acidic, minimalism. More recently he has taken that adventurous sensibility and applied it to his newly established label, Handmade Recordings. From here on Billy hopes to be able to fulfill his dream of sharing his musical influences — his dad’s jazz records, his uncle’s guitar playing and three decades of dance music — with audiences in the Bay Area and beyond.