Playing for Keeps

Bob DeVos | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 23, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fedora Records
• ASIN: B000VKL0OY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357,670 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Hip! A Triumph!!, November 4, 2007

By 

A Jazz Fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing for Keeps (Audio CD)

I was eagerly awaiting DeVos' next CD after "Shifting Sands", his Top Ten Jazz CD of 2006 that was high on Jazz Week's Jazz Charts for a great 7 month run. WOW! "Playing For Keeps" is really well-named--This is a take-no-prisoners triumph for Bob and his regular organ trio and long-time musical collaborator, tenor sax great Eric Alexander. Listen for how their sounds blend. DeVos has a flowing horn-like sound on guitar and he writes for himself and Alexander so that the timbres of the instruments blend, as in the opening original, "And So It Goes." This band is really tight and scorching--top musicians playing at the top of their game on DeVos' originals and arrangements. DeVos is brilliant--his sound is rich and gorgeous with his authentic, great blues feel, profound ryhthm and swing and well, he is one of the real guitar greats with his own style. I listened to the CD four times right in a row; terrifically paced, drawing deep from the bebop and beyond tradition--Miles, Trane, a McCoy Tyner track-- without losing the blues and soul of the jazz-organ tradition. Great uptempo originals and standards are followed by the infectious original "Pause for Fred's Claws" in a "Green Onion" mode--very cool-- to a 3/4 reexamination of "Body & Soul" and the haunting original, "Speech Without Words." But when I got to Bob's arrangement and his, Eric's and organist Dan Kostelnik's solos on "Freedom Jazz Dance," I was completely stopped in my tracks...phew! Followed on Bob's making Monk's "Ask Me Now" feel like a stroll in a park and then Bob's very hip tribute to Wes Montgomery in "Wes Is More." I caught Bob at a Wes Montgomery Tribute earlier this year and this CD confirms what I thought then--DeVos is a complete original and the guitarist now who wears Montgomery's mantle. Don't miss this one!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Jazz and Organ Jazz CD--great arrangements and playing all around, jazz album, December 2, 2007

By 

Jazz Cat (Miami, FL, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing for Keeps (Audio CD)

Two Thumbs Way Up for this superlative CD! All the musicians are terrific and play great as a unit. Each of the wideranging tracks stands strong on its own, taken together the tracks show the breadth of guitarist DeVos's compositional and arranging skills--boy is he one hip musician. There is a great blues vibe throughout as to be expected from DeVos, who has played with all the organ greats but the band takes on & scores big on modern jazz tunes you don't hear from most organ groups like an incredibly cool "Freedom Jazz Dance" and McCoy Tyner's "Blues On the Corner" and Coltane's "Naima." DeVos's originals have a great groove, especially on "Pause for Fred's Claws" and the uptempo opener, "And So It Goes." After a few listens, you hear how much more tone DeVos gets out of the guitar than most anyone, and his impeccable technique. This one is for everyone--guitarists, jazz fans of many stripes. And listen to it from start to finish, DeVos has clearly given a lot of thought to how the tunes work with one another to create an overall experience as good as hearing any favorite classic jazz album.