DeVito leads jazz trio in Escondido

By: CAM MILLER - For the North County TImes | Wednesday, August 16, 2006 11:54 AM PDT ∞

There are jazz guitarists who wouldn't be caught dead playing anything but jazz, and then there are jazz guitarists who will play anything asked of them. Sandy DeVito belongs in the latter category and averages three gigs a week while the jazz guitar purists run the risk of sitting at home hoping the phone will ring.

"I figure when I play, I'm there to please an audience, not to satisfy an ego," said the San Diego musician, who performs Sunday evenings at the La Tapatia Restaurant in Escondido with drummer Don Bunin and bassist Ron Black. "And I never seem to be hurting for work. I've played as many as eight gigs in a week. Just lucky, I guess."

If the name Sandy DeVito sounds familiar to North County jazz fans, it should. He was a member of the North County All-Stars until the death of leader Murray Davison and performs with Rancho Bernardo's RB Swingtet, which includes others from the All-Star ensemble.

Moreover, there are 40 aspiring guitar players who also know Sandy well. They are taking private lessons from DeVito in either his Escondido or Oceanside studio.

"Yeah, I'm busy, too busy at times. I have Thursdays to myself, but that's the only day when something isn't cooking," said DeVito, who also has authored an instruction book on the art of playing a guitar. "But this is the life I chose and I am enjoying it."

He claims, though, he really had no lifelong ambition to become a professional guitarist.

"I started playing when I was 13 and I've just kept on playing."

Never in a school band as a kid, though, just in the privacy of his home where Sandy and his father would join together on guitar and mandolin or at family gatherings when the living room was filled with the sounds of banjos, guitars and other string instruments.

"I wish now I had played in a school band somewhere along the line, but when I was 17 I began playing professionally, and more than 40 years later, here I am doing something I never set out to do."

Given his flexibility and versatility, DeVito was asked if he prefers to play unaccompanied or in an ensemble.

"That's hard to say. There are advantages and disadvantages to both," he responded. "I do know I would not want to play in a large group, but I enjoy a small combo. Having more than one chordal instrument in a group sets up all kinds of problems, so a large group wouldn't work for me. As for working solo, well, you have no one to play off of, but you have the freedom to go where you want with your music."

How about playing rhythm guitar in a big band or playing a seven-string guitar?

"No way, either one," he said without hesitation. "I've played rhythm guitar and it's not for me. As for a seven-string guitar, I've tried that, too. I'd have to spend the rest of the years in my life before I could get it right. I'll stick with my six-stringer, thank you."

DeVito lived in New Jersey and Florida and was an established guitarist before moving to San Diego 15 years ago to be closer to family. But if you roll back the calendar, you'll discover that he comes from a solid musical background. In addition to those homegrown living room concerts with kinfolks, Sandy spent a lot of time listening to Italian operas. And when he heard guitarist Les Paul the first time, he became hooked on jazz.

"I was so gassed by Les, I would try taping a song on two recorders at the same time to see if I could duplicate the way Les used multiple recorders.

"Much later, Les heard me play in a club and invited me into his home where he recorded me with George Barnes and Charlie Byrd, two of the finest jazz guitarists ever. That was a real kick in the head."

DeVito went on to study with jazz guitarist Chuck Wayne, best known for his tenure with big-band leader Woody Herman, but not until DeVito had spent three years bugging Wayne to find time to give him private lessons.

"I studied with Chuck, both the classics and jazz, every Monday night for 10 years, and I looked forward to every session. He was such a perfectionist and had such a brilliant mind. He always told me to listen to what he was doing but never try to copy it. It's so easy to begin sounding like a musician you admire unless you make a conscious effort to develop your own voice, so I took Chuck's advice to heart."

DeVito's resume shows appearances with vocalists Julie London and Vicki Carr and a recording date with the Ray Charles Singers. But he's not paid many visits to recording studios, and if you want to get a preview of what you might hear at a live performance, his Web site includes video clips.

"Oh, I did an album a number of years ago, but the producer was in a hurry to press the disc and get it into the marketplace. As a result, I wasn't happy with the recording because we didn't take time to get it right. And if you can't do something right, then you shouldn't do it all."