I first heard Trace Zacur at the annual MUSE party two years ago. He was playing sax with a band that included Jeremy Douglass (Florida Bjorkestra), on piano, and two members of La Lucha, Alejandro Arenas, bass, and Mark Feinman, drums.
I was blown away hearing this young guy who moved so easily between different jazz and pop styles, and always seemed to be having fun doing it.
We brought Trace into the Side Door in 2022, and he’s back this weekend for what will be his second sold-out show on Saturday, July 29 at 8. He’s sharing the stage with an all-star lineup that includes Jordan Garno, guitar; Gumbi Ortiz, percussion; Jason Park, keyboards; Elias Tona, bass; Jean Balduc, drums; Theo Valentin, vocals.
I’ve been lucky enough to hear all the great female vocalists in our area and I think Theo Valentin is my favorite. And seeing her live these days is a rare treat.
As I’m writing this, there are only about 20 tickets left for the show. So if you want to attend, stop reading now and get your tickets. You can call the box office at 727-822-3590 or follow this link for tickets.
I could tell you a lot about Trace, who graduated from Berklee College of Music, but our pal, Bill DeYoung of St. Pete Catalyst, just published a story about the young sax player and his upcoming Palladium show. You can read it below, or on the Catalyst site, by following this link.
Bill’s story appears below. I hope to see you Saturday night with Trace and his all-star band in the Side Door.
Saxman Trace Zacur and band lay down fusion and funk
By Bill DeYoung/St. Pete Catalyst
Seminole’s Trace Zacur didn’t always want to be a musician. As a pencil-wielding school kid, in fact, he drew and drew, and hoped that one day he could create comic books for a living.
Then he heard jazz saxophone, and it turned the whole “when I grow up” thing on its head. And his parents bought him an instrument.
That was a dozen years ago, and he’s rarely been seen in public without his sax. He graduated from Berklee School of Music in 2020 with a degree in performance.
Since his return from that prestigious Boston music school, Zacur has become a prolific member of the bay area jazz corps, often recruited to play other people’s gigs and recording sessions.
He’s a bandleader, too, and has booked his next performance this Saturday, July 29, the Palladium Theater’s Side Door Café. For this show – he’s titled it Night Moves – the Trace Zacur Band includes Jordan Garno, guitar; Gumbi Ortiz, percussion; Jason Park, keyboards; Elias Tona, bass; Jean Balduc, drums; Theo Valentin, vocals.
Those are some heavy hitters, and it’s testament to Zacur’s skill, and his growing reputation, that they said “yes” when he asked them to come and play.
Night Moves features a program of fusion and funk, the kind of stuff Zacur studied in school but hasn’t played a lot of. He says he wanted to challenge himself. “It’s somewhat intimidating to try to pick the players that are right for it, and prepare yourself for the work that’s got to go into it. I know I’m going to have to work, too. And the exhilaration of that philosophy was really enough.”
As for the end result, he predicts temperatures will be high. “So the music at this show will come across as entertaining and groovy, but it’s a challenge and a rush for the musicians to play.”
He was inspired by 1990s live sets from fusion masters Mike Stern (guitar) and saxophonist Bob Berg (a longtime Zacur hero, along with David Sanborn, James Carter and Michael Brecker. He’s also a Jimi Hendrix devotee).
“Some of these guys’ performances that I used to see on the internet, they (Stern and Berg) are playing for 13 minutes,” Zacur reports. “I’m not saying we’re going to go 13 minutes, but they’d be playing that long at a really fast tempo, keeping that same intensity from when they started the song all the way to the end.”
Zacur played his first gigs as a middle schooler, and as a freshman at Seminole High. “That’s when I discovered the St. Petersburg scene and the jazz musicians there,” he explains. “I’d always heard about this club, Ruby’s Elixir, so then I went there. I really enjoyed the jam session scene. I loved doing that. I loved going, calling a song, playing and trying to have a really special moment.”
Sometimes, he laughs, that “special moment” was just out of reach. “Because I’d watched all these videos of my heroes, you know? You get charged up, and you go to a jam session and you try to be like them.
“And the (the local players) definitely thought I was nuts, because I don’t think I could really play what I was hearing in my head. But I had the intention. So I would just go for it.”
Back from Berklee, he regularly attended the Monday night jazz shows at the Hangar, performed on numerous pandemic-era livestreams. His name, his face and word of his now-considerable chops started to get around. He was hired for gigs. He was in.
Still, humility is a big part of Trace Zacur’s makeup. “If somebody tells me hey, you did a great job, I appreciate you, I put a little feather in my cap,” he says. “Generally, I try to just practice every day, and work on something that I’m not good at, in preparation for whatever call I may have.
“I never accept the gratifying feeling to the extent that I won’t, tomorrow, work on my weaknesses. Just like going to the gym – you can always add another five pounds to whatever you’re lifting.”
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