HE still gets goosebumps remembering 'Dippermouth Blues' by King Oliver and after listening to a 10 inch LP by T Bone Walker he described it as being 'amazing'.

The listener was none other than the former lead singer of Manfred Mann and the current singer and member of The Blues Band, Paul Jones.

You can catch up with Paul when The Blues Band come to The Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton on Thursday, February 28.

I felt I didn't so much interview Paul Jones in the sense of grill him and quiz him, rather we talked, we had a warm hearted chat punctuated with laughs and you could sense his passion about music and especially the blues.

He discovered the blues when he was at school when two boys gave him a book about jazz.

He started to read it and decided to listen to some of the records and the first he picked was 'Dippermouth Blues' by King Oliver which he said sounded wonderful and better than the authors of the book stated.

When Paul discovered the blues he was one of a select band of music fans in the UK who had re-discovered this music, many hearing it for the first time in their lives.

He said: "I was defiantly aware at the time (in the 1950s) as I was listening to trad jazz which was more Humphrey Littleton rather than Acker Bilk.

"I knew the people who listened to the blues were few and far between.

"More people were aware of the great names of jazz rather than the great blues names.

"It was a very exclusive club.

"I remember when I was living in Plymouth with my parents there was shop called Pete's musical hot record store.

"At the time 'hot music' was Louis Armstrong. Pete told me as I liked the blues had a heard this?

"He brought out a 10 inch LP on Vogue a French label.

"It was T Bone Walker and it was the first time I had heard amplified blues with an electric guitar-it was amazing."

Paul said he must have had enough money to buy it as he still has the LP today.

His love of music continued thanks to the blues when he was made aware of and went to Alexis Korner's Epping Club in London.

At the club he realised there were other bands like his own Thunder Odin's Big Sound playing this type of music and he was as he put it 'part of a movement'.

This movement saw bands came to the venue for the Saturday night gigs from Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and even Glasgow.

It was there he met Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones (Three members of the Rolling Stones).

Paul said: "Rock 'n' roll is a mixture of Hillbilly and blues plus a bit of gospel to add the fanaticism which gives it the heat and its madness.

"When we (Manfred Mann) started 5-4-3-2-1 which was our first hit as far as I was concerned it was the blues.

"Our hit Do Wah Diddy was rhythm and blues and this was a cover of the song recorded by The Exciters who came from New York.

"The song was in the R&B (rhythm and blues chart)."

Paul said it was interesting to think how people's definitions of R&B had changed over the years.

He said some would think R&B was Dr Feelgood, others said R&B was born just after the war in LA and lasted from 1945-1959. He felt it was all about an individuals taste and definition of R&B.

Paul decided to leave Manfred Mann as he wanted to pursue a solo career as he felt the group was becoming more and more pop driven.

After leaving the Manfreds in 1966, he became an actor and the rise of The Blues Band ran hand in hand with his other career.

The Blues Band started in 1979 and have been together for 40 years.

He said: "For me the blues is everything, it is like a comfort blanket when you are going into uncharted territory.

"What is good about the band is we all bring something different to it.

"For example Dave Kelly brings a country sound, Tom McGuinness rock 'n' roll and I bring a jazz and soul to the mix.

"I never thought of the blues as being limited. It is a musical form which has a value which is as significant as any kind of music like jazz or classical." I asked Paul to select three blues tracks which mean a lot to him on a personal level.

The three tracks he selected were:

1: Mighty Long Time by Sonny Boy Williamson.

This was recorded in the 1950's but Paul didn't heard it until the early 1960s.

He said: "It left an enormous impression on me when I heard it."

2: Don't Ever let nobody drag your spirit down by Eric Bibb.

Paul was sent a copy of it on a Swedish record label Opus III.

He said: "Nobody knew who he was even me. When I heard it I went wow.

"When Eric came to London, he got off the plane and then got a taxi to where he needed to go.

"The taxi driver had the radio tuned into Jazz FM.

"And as the taxi is going along, Eric hears this song on the radio and asks what station is it tuned to?

"The taxi driver said Jazz FM and it was a radio show with Paul Jones who is great." (At this point he laughed)

3: Hard Times by Ray Charles.

Paul explained he picked this as it was the record on which you could hear Ray Charles changing from a version of Charles Brown into his own fiery gospel influenced self exploding singer.

At the end he said if I had asked him yesterday, he would have included the new song, Ain't Gonna Moan No More by Van Morrison. He felt this was Van swerving back to the Blues.

Tickets for The Blues Band at The Brewhouse cost £27.50.

Buy online at thebrewhouse.net or call the box office on 01823 283244.