Trombonist living dreams

“Richmond has more art in it per square inch than any town its size,” director of jazz studies Antonio Garcia says. While trying to get the city to adopt the mantra, few take it to heart more than Garcia’s student, trombone and jazz studies major Reggie Pace.

At a ripe 25-years-of-age, Pace already is living his dream of supporting himself exclusively with his craft-music. What some consider a pipe dream, Pace considers the only alternative for himself.

As the founder of the No BS! Brass Band and an influential collaborator throughout Richmond, not a day goes by when Pace does not get to express himself through his music.

“I love it,” Pace said. “Once I figured out I could live off of music, I decided that’s what I was going to do.”

Pace’s exploits can be seen almost nightly throughout the community in such acts as Glows In The Dark, Bungalo 6, The Big Payback and Fight the Big Bull. Pace’s arranging and compositional skills can also be heard in the pep bands for VCU and University of Richmond, the latter of which he also directs. When he’s not performing, Pace teaches around twenty students privately at any given time.

Pace began exploring the trombone in seventh grade and discovered jazz late in his high school career.

Though he is nearly finished with his undergraduate education, a setback in Pace’s health kept him from being a full-time student for two years. Having suffered a near-fatal attack of appendicitis, Pace’s triumph helped him find new direction.

“My heart actually stopped,” Pace said. “I died for a moment.”

After a complicated surgical procedure following the rupturing of the appendix, Pace decided to reevaluate his life.

“I decided I was going to eliminate anything and everything out of my life that didn’t make me happy or got in the way of my happiness.”

While Pace packs a musical bag of tricks that would allow him to survive in any metropolitan area, he says Richmond is the place to be, despite its shortcomings.

“It is what you make it if you work hard enough,” Pace said. “While there aren’t a lot of good venues, there are a lot of good people.”

Among his professors at VCU, including Rex Richardson and Doug Richards, Pace’s chief influences are Miles Davis, Earth, Wind and Fire, John Coltrane and Ray Anderson. All these can be heard in his playing, which Garcia holds in
high esteem.

“Reggie has the musical expressiveness on trombone to ignite a crowd at a moment’s notice,” Garcia stated in an e-mail. “He delivers soul and joy, funkiness and fun, and his technique is formidable.”

Still, the young instrumentalist possesses a quality that Garcia says transcends academia.

“Clearly the time he spent with professor Ross Walter and me accelerated his growth, but you can’t teach what Reggie has-it comes from the inside,” Garcia said.

Friend and Fight the Big Bull band leader Matt White expressed similar sentiments toward Pace’s ability and character.

“Reggie is a special guy all the way around. He’s a totally free, crazy and a totally ridiculous trombone player,” White said. “The special thing about No BS! is they’re really tight, fun and their music is great but it is an unbelievably representative collective aesthetic of Reggie and collaborator Lance Koehler.”

Each week, the Spectrum Section selects a talented student from the School of the Arts (music, dance, theater and visual) and showcases his or her achievements both in and around the VCU community. Do you want your name and work in The CT? E-mail spectrum@commonwealthtimes.com for consideration.