Biography
Blues and soul permeate Bob DeVos’s approach to jazz guitar, a direct consequence of the years he spent in Paterson, New Jersey, working with ensembles steeped in the traditions of B.B. King, Otis Redding, James Brown, and other foundational figures in blues and rhythm & blues. Although no relatives played instruments, DeVos absorbed music through the record collections of his parents and older brother, which ranged from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Frank Sinatra to King Curtis, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and additional architects of rock & roll.
After launching his professional career in blues and classic rhythm & blues, the New Jersey guitarist encountered the pure jazz language of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, and Pat Martino. During his early twenties he turned toward jazz rather than rock, drawn by the greater harmonic density and expressive latitude that jazz and soul-jazz provided. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and into the following decade, the groups DeVos led projected a guitar style that fused blues, classic rhythm & blues, and straight-ahead jazz.
DeVos took up the guitar in the 1960s and studied with the renowned teachers Harry Leahy and Dennis Sandole. In 1970 Sandole dispatched his strongest pupils to audition for Hammond organist Trudy Pitts, who selected DeVos for her ensemble. From that first engagement onward he worked regularly with organists of both jazz and blues persuasions, among them Richard “Groove” Holmes alongside saxophonist Sonny Stitt, Jimmy McGriff, and Charles Earland.
Over the ensuing decades DeVos recorded and toured with saxophonists Hank Crawford, Stitt, and David “Fathead” Newman, vocalist Irene Reid, and organists McGriff, Holmes, Gene Ludwig, and Joey DeFrancesco. His performances have included appearances at the Kennedy Center as well as at every prominent jazz club in New York City.
During much of the 1990s he directed his own Hammond B-3 trio and belonged to the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra led by Bill Warfield. In addition to private instruction from his northern New Jersey home, DeVos served on the music faculty of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, conducted jazz clinics, and taught at William Paterson University in Wayne. He was awarded a jazz-composition grant by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. From the 1990s forward he appeared frequently with Gene Ludwig’s Groove ORGANization, the Charles Earland Tribute Band, and the Ron McClure Quartet.
His first album as a leader, Breaking the Ice, appeared on Savant Records and featured organist Earland (who passed away shortly afterward), percussionist Henry Gibson, and drummer Vince Ector. Groove Guitar, his debut release for the New Jersey-based Blues Leaf label, followed in 2002.
After launching his professional career in blues and classic rhythm & blues, the New Jersey guitarist encountered the pure jazz language of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, and Pat Martino. During his early twenties he turned toward jazz rather than rock, drawn by the greater harmonic density and expressive latitude that jazz and soul-jazz provided. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and into the following decade, the groups DeVos led projected a guitar style that fused blues, classic rhythm & blues, and straight-ahead jazz.
DeVos took up the guitar in the 1960s and studied with the renowned teachers Harry Leahy and Dennis Sandole. In 1970 Sandole dispatched his strongest pupils to audition for Hammond organist Trudy Pitts, who selected DeVos for her ensemble. From that first engagement onward he worked regularly with organists of both jazz and blues persuasions, among them Richard “Groove” Holmes alongside saxophonist Sonny Stitt, Jimmy McGriff, and Charles Earland.
Over the ensuing decades DeVos recorded and toured with saxophonists Hank Crawford, Stitt, and David “Fathead” Newman, vocalist Irene Reid, and organists McGriff, Holmes, Gene Ludwig, and Joey DeFrancesco. His performances have included appearances at the Kennedy Center as well as at every prominent jazz club in New York City.
During much of the 1990s he directed his own Hammond B-3 trio and belonged to the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra led by Bill Warfield. In addition to private instruction from his northern New Jersey home, DeVos served on the music faculty of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, conducted jazz clinics, and taught at William Paterson University in Wayne. He was awarded a jazz-composition grant by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. From the 1990s forward he appeared frequently with Gene Ludwig’s Groove ORGANization, the Charles Earland Tribute Band, and the Ron McClure Quartet.
His first album as a leader, Breaking the Ice, appeared on Savant Records and featured organist Earland (who passed away shortly afterward), percussionist Henry Gibson, and drummer Vince Ector. Groove Guitar, his debut release for the New Jersey-based Blues Leaf label, followed in 2002.
Albums
