Jim Masters has been immersed in the UK dance scene since the early eighties. As DJ and promoter Jim has been responsible for some of the most popular and underground nights in and around London. Today as resident DJ and promoter of BASE. and Open to Torture, Jim carries on with two of the strongest and longest running techno nights in the UK :- B.A.S.E. At The Velvet Rooms every Thursday - as well as one off specials at The End - have achieved legendary status. Growing out of 'Ultimate base' which jim ran with fellow cohort Carl Cox for 5 years, BASE has gone from strength to strength and if anything is proving even more popular with regular nights in London, Barcelona, Athens, & Lisbon plus one-off events around the world. The cream of the global DJ fraternity has played time and time again at these nights with the vibe and not the fee the big pulling factor. Not content with this Jim alongside Billy Nasty also hosts the Open to Torture nights. Once again The End provides the backdrop for this well respected and extremely popular all-nighter. The more experimental Techno & Electro edge provides the sound to their innovative and popular nights. 

Versatile, passionate, respected these are tags he has become labeled with, but ones he wears with pride. Jim took his first steps in the world of DJ'ing & event promotion as early as 1985. He was then responsible for "The Saville Row" a mod styled event at scooter runs where the musical style was Soul and R'n'B, Jazz and Funk. This soon developed to rare groove and acid jazz at clubs such as Shake'n'Fingerpop featuring DJs such as Norman Jay and Giles Peterson. It was the Acid House scene at the end of the eighties, which captured Jim's imagination. He was fully involved in the promotion of and Dj'ing at theses warehouse events and in 1989 a trip to Ibiza did nothing but further encourage him. There Jim discovered clubs offering an alternative to the tabloid rave scene in the UK. DJs such as Andrew Weatherall and Rocky & Diesel providing an insight to the Balearic sound where the beats came slower and the crowd vibe much more relaxed.   It was around this time Jim started applying his knowledge & passion to journalism at Touch magazine, part of Kiss FM's organization & it was during his tenure at Touch that he covered the soon to open Ministry of Sound and before long a new exciting chapter was about to begin.

    During the early nineties Jim was responsible for running the press & promotion at the newly opened Ministry of Sound before becoming a director at the club. Responsible for overseeing both the club & record label, taking the club to world famous status, with his policy of experimenting and establishing new trends at warehouse parties such as the infamous 'bobs full house' parties before unleashing them onto the higher profile that the Ministry carried. With co promoters Charlie Hall & Red Marc, Jim was at it again with Drum Club. Coupled with Open all Hours at the Ministry this was a key element in the whole evolution of the UK dance scene. Debut performances from acts such as Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Leftfield alongside first time UK DJ appearances from the likes of DJ Sneak, Sven Vath, Armand van Helden & Danny Tenaglia featured among many others reading like a who's who of the dance scene. 

  His one-off parties "It Is Where It Is" featured acts such as Laurent Garnier, Aphex Twin and Derrick May creating a genuine love for techno. Jim was also instrumental in the setting up the Ministry's labels including the inception the 'sessions' series, the first with Tony Humphries in 1992 was surely the forerunner of thousands of mix CD's since. His own label 'Open' achieved cult status almost instantly with the release of Paperclip Peoples' seminal "Throw". The label reflected the music of the 'Open all Hours' night & included artists such as Green Velvet, Carl Craig and Francois K. With such varied musical policies it was only reasonable to expect the same in Jim's DJ style. Encompassing House, Techno, Drum'n'Bass,& Electro & never musically pigeonholed, surprise is just one of the elements that makes up the Jim Masters experience. 

In 1996 after more than 5 years of sheer hard graft and finding himself to be a respected wild card in an increasingly commercial deck Jim left the Ministry. The next three years saw Jim establish himself as true player on the global circuit. As well as his well known UK residencies at The End & Velvet, Jim also established residencies in North America (Twilo-NYC, Industry-Toronto) Spain (Florida 135) and Portugal (Rocks-Oporto). Major festivals have featured on a global scale alongside the residencies, coupled with regular guest appearances at pretty much every major club worldwide. Like his gig list ever-expanding - Jim's limits knew no bounds.

1999 saw two Essential mixes for BBC Radio One as well as the release of The Sound of Ultimate B.A.S.E, Jim's mix of the classics and favorites of the years at the Velvet Rooms. (The US release was supported by a 27 date tour throughout North America.) He was then asked by the BBC to prepare one of only two mixes celebrating the history of electronic dance music for the millennium, a prestigious accolade to his knowledge and respect within the dance music scene. His mix "Origins (end of the 20th Century)" featured 50 tracks encompassing everything from pioneers like Kraftwerk & New Order through Detroit to the latest purveyors of Techno, it has become a sought after classic, regarded as a complete painting on the history of Techno and is one of the most downloaded mixes from the radio 1 essential mix website.check it out at:- www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/dance/essential_mix_991219.shtml

  His list of gigs in the past 4 years reads like a top 200 of clubs around the world. Appearances in more than 50 countries and over a 1000 flights in the relentless pursuit and promotion of the underground ideal & music he loves so much has seen him accumulate a legion of passionate die-hard fans worldwide. And who can question a man sane enough to play 3 different gigs in 3 different countries in one day?!! 2 more mix CD's followed as well as a number of remix projects. At the stroke of midnight 1999 Jim could be heard at Cream 2000 London doing what he does best showing the others the way for the next ten years and beyond. 
Fast Forward to NYE 2000 and Jim's set in Manila is being broadcast live to over 6 million people in SE Asia on satellite TV. Three weeks later and he is playing to 200,000 people at the Rock in Rio festival - never afraid of the big crowds but just as happy in front of 200 people at his home, BASE in London. 2001 also saw him at the world famous Sonar festival in Barcelona, Homelands and he was honored with a slot on the main stage at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. The future looks equally exciting, with Jim at the helm BASE is set to grow with nights in London, Glasgow, Barcelona, Athens, Bogota, Hong Kong, Porto & New York. BASE the label is releasing it's first project in Jan 2002 featuring Jim plus Spanky from Phuture 303 on vocals. 2002 sees 4 mix CD's planned plus a host of production & remix projects. 

The art of the DJ is growing and always staying at the forefront his performances are growing into a audio-visual synergy with the addition of live elements, the amazing mp3 manipulating vinyl software tool 'final scratch' and visual performances performed with the futuristic, innovative DigitalDisco creator DJ Lulu - the shape of things to come?   Whether it's house, techno, Electro, Latin, jazz or just pure experimental electronica the crowd gets all of Jim's energy, enthusiasm and ideals when he's performing and perhaps that why he's become known as a law unto himself and a legend to his followers.

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