With
long, blues-drenched melodic lines, and a fat, warm, horn-like sound, guitarist
and composer Bob DeVos has his own signature style. Critics
universally cite Mr. DeVos' "full, liquid tone" and
"soulful, intelligent interpretations and superb, modern
compositional skiils". Hailed as
"the thinking man's guitar hero" and "a brilliant, knowing
bebop player", Bob's CDs as a leader for Savant/HighNote and Blues Leaf
Records have earned high praise and many stars in Downbeat and throughout the jazz media.
His 2006 CD Shifting Sands on Savant
was in the top twenty on JazzWeek.com's National Airplay Chart for 28
weeks and
on many top ten jazz CDs of 2006 and a WBGOFM Jazz Radio "Play of the
Month". Playing For Keeps on Savant was released in late
October 2007 and rose to # 6 on JazzWeek.com's chart of national airplay
and was in the top ten for 18 weeks and was a WBGO "Play of the
Month" for 4 months. His next Savant CD with his own Bob DeVos Organ
Trio will be released in early 2009.
A
musically mature and versatile guitarist, composer, and arranger, Bob is a
modern player with strong traditional roots. He is equally at home
with straight-ahead jazz, Rhythm & Blues, funk, jazz fusion and more.
Formative
Jazz Experience
Bob
started in jazz as a student of Harry Leahy and the legendary Dennis
Sandole. In 1970, when Sandole sent his leading students out to audition
for the brilliant organist Trudy Pitts, Bob was chosen to step in for Pat
Martino. Bob went on to be the guitarist for groups led by
Richard "Groove" Holmes, featuring saxophone legend Sonny Stitt,
and Jimmy McGriff and Hank Crawford. He later toured and recorded
extensively with organist Charles "The Mighty Burner"
Earland’s group that included Eric Alexander and Jim Rotondi
. He
further developed his compositional and harmonic skills playing with
many jazz greats outside the organ trio genre.
Performances
As
a member of the Jimmy McGriff-Hank Crawford Quartet, Mr. DeVos
appeared in the PBS-TV video Live From Elario’s, aired
nationwide on PBS’s Club Date series. He toured as a member of
saxophonist Gerry Neiwood’s group Timepiece with Grammy winner
Dave Samuels. As a member of composer Teo Macero’s Nonet,
Bob recorded and performed with Pepper Adams, Dave Leibman, and Dick
Oatts. He has also performed and/or recorded with Eric Alexander, Harry
Allen, Freddy Cole, Junior Cook, Joey DeFrancesco, Kenny Drew, Jr., Bill
Doggett, Billy Drummond, Joe Farnsworth, Larry Goldings, Onaje Allan
Gumbs, Billy Hart, "Screaming" Jay Hawkins, David
Hazeltine, Etta Jones, Gladys Knight, Mike LeDonne, John Lee, Gene Ludwig, Pat
Martino, Jack MacDuff, Ron McClure, Hendrik Meurkens, David
"Fathead" Newman, Adam Nussbaum, Houston Person, Irene Reid,
Rufus Reid, Mike Richmond, Jim Rontondi, Bob Sheppard, Dr. Lonnie
Smith, Grady Tate, Stanley Turrentine, Dave Valentin, Ray Vega, Kenny
Washington, Jerry Weldon, Buddy Williams, and many, many others.
Current
Work
Bob
leads his own innovative Bod DeVos Organ Trio with Dan Kostelnik on the
Hammond B3 organ and Steve Johns on drums. Bob's 2006 CD is Shifting Sands, HighNote/Savant records. Shifting
Sands was in the top twenty of Jazz Week's national airplay charts
for 28 weeks ands on many Top Ten Jazz CD's of 2006 Lists. It debuted at
Live at J & R in a national live broadcast over WBGOJazz Radio
88.3FM. The CD features many of Bob's tunes. Playing on the CD are
Bob's trio and Eric
Alexander as guest tenor player, and Gary Fritz lending percussion to two tracks.
Listen for eagerly anticipated late October 2007 release of Playing
For Keeps on Savant. Bob
is also a member of the forward-thinking Ron McClure Quartet and is
a member and featured performer with the New York Jazz Repertory
Orchestra under the leadership of Bill Warfield. Bob
collaborates frequently with Hendrik Meurkens, Onaje Allan Gumbs, and in
trio with Mike McGuirk and Billy Drummond.
Bob
was the musical director and guitarist for the smashing all-star AN
ORGAN SUMMIT SUPREME that honored Jimmy McGriff and reunited Bob with
Dr. Lonnie Smith, David "Fathead" Newman, Trudy Pitts, Houston
Person, Gene Ludwig & attracted an audience of over 1,200.
WBGOJazzradio 88.3FM was the event media sponsor.
In
recent years, Bob has performed at the Kennedy Center, The Kimmel Center,
The Blue Note, Iridium, SMOKE, The Jazz Bakery, Chris' Jazz Cafe, Sweet Basil, Birdland, The
Kitano, Zanzibar Blue, Gerald Veasley's Jazz Base, B.B.King's, The Van
Dyke Café, and numerous festivals in the US and worldwide, including the
JVC Jazz Festivals in New York City and Miami Beach, and The San Francisco
Jazz Festival. An in-demand freelance player, he is heard frequently on
jazz stations nationwide.
Mr.
DeVos is on the music faculty at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania and, teaches privately. An innovative and sensitive teacher,
he has done extensive work in jazz clinics and has also taught at William
Paterson University. He is a past artist-in-residence at Arts High,
Newark, NJ, the nation's first performing arts secondary school.
Composition
Mr.
DeVos’ writing has been cited by the New Jersey Council on the Arts
where he is a past grant recipient for composition. Critics universally
cite and acclaim his composing for both his first CD as a leader and the
CDs of others: "Breaking the Ice," "Rue de La Burner",
and "Tri-Hog-Myth" on Breaking the Ice (Savant);
"Maine-Stay", "Shorter Story", "West Side
Blues", and "In Search of Times Lost" on Match Point
(Steeplechase, with the Ron McClure Quartet); "Pause for Fred’s
Claws" on Groove ORGANization, with the Gene Ludwig
Trio (BluesLeaf); and "Memorial Day" on Keepers
of the Flame: Charles Earland, (HighNote, with the Charles
Earland Tribute Band anchored by Joey DeFrancesco). "Shorter
Story" and "Shifting Sands" have been recorded by
West Coast tenor great Bob Sheppard on Sheppard's In The Now and Tell
Tale Signs (BMG Records. "Breaking The Ice", arranged
for big band by Bill Warfield for his NY Repertory Orchestra will
appear on a forthcoming CD (BluesLeaf) featuring Gene Ludwig and Bob.
Bob's modern compositional skills are showcased on Shifting
Sands and Playing For Keeps and are critically hailed.
(BACK)
Go
To Discography
And
for Those of You Interested in Some Early History...
No
one in the family played a musical instrument, but Bob absorbed standards
and the best of Big Band and Rhythm and Blues from listening to his
parents’ and older brother’s record collections. Bob picked up the
guitar at age twelve, within weeks was memorizing guitar solos off of his
brother’s records, and was performing professionally at thirteen. While
a teenager, he toured nationwide with a famous rock group, but-- more
telling for his future-- he was exploring the soul jazz clubs of Newark,
New Jersey.
Rock
could not meet the needs of his musical creativity and intellect; "I
needed more chord changes…" Inspired by Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Jim
Hall, and Pat Martino, Bob chose jazz over rock. He subsequently recorded with Martino. He studied
with Harry Leahy (guitar), Edgar Grana (composition), and the legendary
Dennis Sandole (guitar and composition).
