By: Joseph Ursitti
1995 Dupage Arts Life
Twenty-One years old and he’s turned down MTV. He’s got three CD’s, four demos, and a wall full of awards. He’s played major venues. He’s currently recording a fourth CD. And in his spare time he’s a full-time student.
He is Jerry DeVivo, a senior jazz saxophone and drum set major at Illinois Benedictine College.
“I don’t feel successful or out of the ordinary,” said DeVivo, lounged back in his dorm room watching television. “I still want to be a college student.”
But it is difficult to be a college student when success is knocking at the door. The current band DeVivo plays with, The Mighty Blue Kings, is on the verge of national prominence.
Earlier this year, the Mighty Blue Kings, a self-described jump swing R&B band, gained local recognition with two feature articles in the Chicago Tribune, live guest appearances on WFLD’s (Channel 32) Fox Thing in the Morning and on WLUP (97.9 FM). The band was also one of the closing acts of WXRT’s (93.1 FM) Octoberfest.
Perhaps the boldest move the band has made was turning down and invitation to play at a party for MTV after the 1995 Music Awards.
DeVivo, who is one of two saxophonists in the seven man band, is not a stranger to success, but he wasn’t prepared for success to come so quickly.
“This success is difficult because school is in the way,” he said. “I wish it would have waited a couple of years. But destiny has no respect for education.”
DeVivo’s destiny was obvious at a young age.
“He was blessed with a gift and a talent,” said his mother, Rosalie, one of his biggest fans. “It is working for him. I knew he had rhythm when he was a kid. There was always music in my house – and when he used to play along with records, he did it with rhythm.”
It was his parents that sparked the musical wheel.
“My little cousin had a Muppets drum set, and I was infatuated by it,” DeVivo recalled. “So I bugged my parents, and they bought me a little drum set. And ever since then I’ve been playing.”
In 1987 DeVivo’s music career took a dramatic turn, when, for his thirteenth birthday, his parents bought him his first saxophone. The groundwork was laid for DeVivo to become focused as a two-sided musician: a drummer and saxophonist.
DeVivo said most of his musical motivation comes from his late father, Felix, who died in 1989.
“My dad was a drummer; he got me started,” said DeVivo, who during the summer lives with his mother and one of his three sisters. “He paved the road for me. I credit over half this musical talent to my parents.”
“It’s very rare to find talent that can play two instruments as well as Jerry does,” said Jack Mouse, DeVivo’s drum mentor. “He brings positive energy to every band he plays with. Jerry has his head on straight about artistic and musical priorities. He is working very hard at polishing his skills.”
Mark Colby, DeVivo’s saxophone teacher, agrees: “He’s got tremendous potential. He’s willing and eager to learn. I think if he really applies himself, he can be one of the better saxophonists out there”.
Despite the success, all are proud that DeVivo’s character has remained the same.
“I think Jerry’s attitude is just like it was before this success,” his mother said. “It hasn’t gone to his head.”
Mouse agrees: “Jerry has good moral character. He shows a lot of caring. He has a kind heart and soul.”
“Jerry is a great guy and hard worker,” Colby added.
DeVivo first made his mark at Notre Dame High School in Niles, he was named the most outstanding musician in his freshman, sophomore and junior years.
1n 1989, as a sophomore, DeVivo took first place out of over five hundred participants in Concordia University’s Jazz Sax Improvisation contest. In his senior year he was named the most outstanding saxophone and drum soloist at Rolling Meadows High School’s “Jazz in the Meadows.”
Shortly after coming to IBC, DeVivo released his first two albums, Night Scenes and Beyond the Heart, with the band Take 3. Take 3 played at Popular Creek Music Center in Hoffman Estates for the WNUA Smoothe Jazz Festival.
Last year he hooked up with another saxophonist, to play with Mark Fechner Jazz Experience on a self-titled album. In May, the Mark Fechner Jazz Experience played at the United Center before a Chicago Bulls game.
All three albums were played in Chicago on WNUA (95.5 FM), and several other markets around the country, including New York and Los Angeles.
DeVivo networked so well with his past bands that the Mighty Blue Kings came looking for him.
“Jerry is the young life of the band,” said Jimmy Sutton, co-leader of the Mighty Blue Kings. “He’s got that ‘Let’s go get ‘em’ attitude. He’s a great musician. I’m looking forward to hearing him in a few years.”
And with the sudden success of the Mighty Blue Kings, DeVivo won’t talk about his past experiences – he’ll speak only about the present.
With a mixture of hard-hitting songs and entertainment, DeVivo believes Mighty Blue Kings, playin 50s-type music, is on the verge of major success.
“This is a generation of people born too late to enjoy this style of music when they were kids,” he said. “Today’s style is alternative, grunge, hip-hop, rap and rock. They’ve never been motivated to look for our style of music. Now that we throw it in their faces, they say ‘Wow!’ We added our own ‘90’s touch to it, making it the Mighty Blue Kings.”
And to think he is only 21.
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