Portrait session with Liberty DeVitto.

Liberty DeVitto was Billy Joel’s longtime drummer, playing with him for 30 years and covering nearly every significant recording of Joel’s career. He is also my dad’s favorite drummer, and one of my first influences when I began playing drums in the early 80’s. I went to see Billy Joel play at the Spectrum in Philadelphia when I was 13 years old. (I am, in fact, somewhere to be heard on the ‘Songs in the Attic’ live album which features ‘Captain Jack’ recorded at that particular concert.)  Liberty DeVitto  was the first guy to make me want to pursue playing drums in a serious way, and I began practicing in earnest sometime after that concert. 

As a musician, particularly one with eclectic leanings and a general contempt for pop music, it becomes fashionable, over time,  to distance yourself from the Billy Joel canon. Your musical palette becomes more diverse, and you start to regard him as the archetype of mainstream banality. And then, over more time, as your ego subsides and you take a broader and more inclusive approach to music, you correct your thinking and rightly regard him as one of the premier songwriters of his generation, and one of the great hit-makers of all time. In short, you let yourself love the music again. But at no time, no matter where you stood on the Billy Joel train, was Liberty DeVitto ever held in anything but the highest regard. He is a rocker in the classic sense, and his contributions to modern rock drumming is unquestioned. 

As part of my ongoing portrait series which focuses on significant influences in my life (project as yet untitled), I decided to reach out to Liberty to see if I could get a few minutes of his time for a quick shoot. Noticing that his band, The Lords of 52nd St., were playing at club Havana in New Hope Pa, I contacted the catering manager there to see if I could overnight a letter for Liberty. Jamie at Havana was kind enough to pass it along to him (thanks, Jamie!!! I owe you pie!), and a month or so later I got a phone call directly form LDV himself! He was incredibly kind, and generously offered to have lunch with my father and I (and make time for a shoot) before the Lords played at the Ridgfield Playhouse in Ridgefield, Ct. a couple months down the road. 

We had lunch at the excellent Nod Hill Brewery, and then proceeded to the Playhouse where my father and I were given the VIP treatment, which included soundcheck and backstage access. 

Thanks very much to everyone involved, including LDV and his bandmates, along with management  and all the venues and individuals listed above. 

Images shot on film and digital.