Bob deVos is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 whose playing style is similar to that of Kenny Burrell

Kenny Burrell

Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...

 and Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery

John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...

. He is most noted for his work with organist Richard Holmes

Richard Holmes (organist)

Richard Arnold "Groove" Holmes was an American jazz organist who performed in the hard bop and soul jazz genre...

.

Biography

Although no one in the family played a musical instrument, deVos spent much of his youth listening to the big band and blues records that his parents owned. He picked up the guitar at age twelve and within weeks he was memorizing guitar solos from these albums and performing professionally at age thirteen. As a teenager, he toured nationwide with a famous rock group, but chose jazz over rock in his twenties saying, "I needed more chord changes..."

DeVos started in jazz as a student of Harry Leahy and Dennis Sandole

Dennis Sandole

Dennis Sandole , 1913-2000, was a jazz guitarist, composer and music educator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a music educator and performer he left his fingerprint on music history. His students most notably included John Coltrane and Pat Martino, as well as lesser-known musicians such as...

. In 1970, when Sandole sent his leading students out to audition for the organist Trudy Pitts

Trudy Pitts

Trudy Pitts , born Gertrude E. Pitts, was an American soul jazz keyboardist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was known primarily for playing the Hammond B3 organ.-Biography:...

, deVos was chosen to step in for Pat Martino

Pat Martino

Pat Martino is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, fusion, mainstream jazz, soul jazz and hard bop idioms.-Biography:...

. DeVos went on to be the guitarist for groups led by Richard "Groove" Holmes, featuring saxophone legend Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...

, and Jimmy McGriff

Jimmy McGriff

James Harrell McGriff was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who developed a distinctive style of playing the Hammond B-3 organ.-Early years and influences:...

 and Hank Crawford

Hank Crawford

Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. was an American R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, soul jazz alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter...

. He later toured and recorded extensively with organist Charles Earland

Charles Earland

Charles Earland was an American jazz composer, organist, and saxophonist in the soul jazz idiom.-Biography:...

's group that included Eric Alexander and Jim Rotondi

Jim Rotondi

James Robert Rotondi is an American jazz trumpeter, educator and conductor.Born in Butte, Montana and the youngest of 5 siblings, Rotondi lives in Graz, Austria and performs there and internationally with several groups, as well as being a Professor at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts...

. He further developed his compositional and harmonic skills playing with many jazz greats outside the organ trio

Organ trio

An organ trio, in a jazz context, is a group of three jazz musicians, typically consisting of a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player. In some cases the saxophonist will join a trio which consists of an organist, guitarist, and drummer, making it a quartet...

 genre.

Currently deVos plays with an organ trio with whom he has released the CD, Shifting Sands. This album spent 28 weeks in the top twenty on Jazz Week's Top 50 Nationwide Jazz Airplay Chart.

Equipment

DeVos says that he plays a Gibson Super 400

Gibson Super 400

The Gibson Super 400 is an archtop guitar, "the biggest, fanciest, and most expensive archtop ever built," and a highly influential model guitar which inspired many other guitar makers . It was first sold in 1934 and named for its $400 price.The Super 400 was the largest guitar that the Gibson...

 more than his other guitars; however, he claims his mainstay guitar is a custom archtop

Archtop guitar

An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.Typically, an archtop guitar has:* 6 strings...

, designed by longtime friend Rob Engel. He also spends time tweaking his amps and has even built a few of his own, mostly out of parts from vintage Fender Amps such as the Twin Reverb and Showman.

External links