JAC

"... I will tell you here and now. I don't know if I have ever heard any man's voice be so beautiful and powerful. I think its a mistake for this guy to limit himself to just a harder rock sound. His voice is like Lenny Kravitz only stronger and a little more beautiful like Terrence Trent D'Arby in sheer quality of vocal delivery." - Scott Zensen, MUSIC JAMMERS.COM - Musicjammers.com

"... the power of Chris Cornell and the soul of Al Green...vocals built for rock and roll that reaches for the soul...make this a must buy CD...it's worth every penny."



- REVOLT MAGAZINE

... a brilliant talent who concocted a unique, deeply personal hybrid of rock, soul and funk...a powerful, dynamic voice; movie-star good looks; an athlete's body...sweat-drenched showmanship ethic; and the sort of inborn, enigmatic mystique that a team of makeover consultants could never develop artificially. - San Diego Union-Tribune by the late Buddy Blue

- San Diego Union-Tribune

... Rockin Voice. Strong Stage Presence. - KCBQ-AM 1170 Radio Host David Kamatoy
- KCBQ-AM 1170

Local rocker Jac ---- he of the booming vocals atop a hard-driving rock 'n' soul band ---- first performed for a promise of ice cream. Well, it was for more than a cone ---- a buddy of his in high school wanted to enter the talent show but needed a partner to rap for him. Jac was buried with practice for the baseball team, but his friend offered the promise of a job at the local Baskin Robbins if he'd come rap.

"I sang in the chorus," Jac remembered during a recent telephone interview. "My first time ever singing in front of people ---- it went over crazy!

"That was my toe dipping into the water and I liked it."

Liked it so much he quit the baseball team.

Jac, who is playing Saturday night's Rock a Wish benefit show for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos, arrived in the county when he followed his mom out from his native New York City following his parents' divorce and his own graduation from high school. When he got here, his mom was sharing a one-bedroom downtown with two of his siblings and her mother. He still had the singing bug but obviously no place to practice at home.

So he improvised.

"I would get on the bridges over the I-5," he said of teaching himself to be a rock singer. "I could yell really loud, and nobody could hear me over the traffic. So I started practicing there."

Around that same time, his mother's landlord introduced him to a bass player.

"That's how I got started. We ended up getting a drummer and a guitar player."

Jac said that first band of his had some pretty disparate influences. Jac (whose family name is Cruz; Jac is his initials) is half black and half Puerto Rican, the bass player was black, and the guitarist and drummer were both white, with the guitar a Led Zeppelin fan and the drummer "a total surfer dude."

"It was rock ---- but it was my style," he said of that first band. "It was nothing like where I'm at now; a little harder, actually."

Around this time, he also made the acquaintance of Buddy "Blue" Seigal, who, in addition to leading his own jazz and swing band (shortly before re-forming with fellow Beat Farmers alumni into the Farmers, also profiled in this issue), was writing a weekly music column in a San Diego daily newspaper. Jac said having an established San Diego music veteran and passionate music fan such as Seigal in his corner helped give him the confidence to stick with his own instincts musically.

At that time, he was performing under his family name of Cruz but decided he needed a change in band name.

"With my style of music, I can't be 'Cruz' ---- it's too ethnic-sounding." He changed the band's name, and his own stage name, to Jac and issued a five-song EP under the new name in 2005.

While he has recorded seven songs for a new CD and is in post-production on them now, Jac said he's pitching the new album not to record companies but to potential partners who would back his band financially for a share in future profits.

"The business has changed so much," he explained. "The whole 'I wanna get signed thing'? Well, good luck."

He's also added a new lead guitarist by the name of Townsend to the band recently ---- part of an ongoing growth in his songwriting that Jac says is bringing more soul to his music. (The rest of the band is Julian Gonzales on second guitar, Tyler Prell on bass and E. Dove on drums.)

While he said jokingly that "I'm getting in touch with my inner Al Green," he also said he thinks the new songs that he's writing are the best he's come up with.

"I'm really hoping the songs I'm about to put out will really open some doors," he said.

His method of writing is to wait for inspiration to hit; he tried a more disciplined routine of setting aside time each day, but said simply "it didn't work."

When inspiration comes, Jac said he goes with the flow no matter when it happens.

"I'll get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and try to find a pen and paper. I'm like, 'Dude, get up and write that down!'

"I've had times I get up at 2 and write for three hours. I'm very grateful because it happens."

While he's been relatively quiet in terms of performing this fall, the new songs and reconstituted band promise more shows in the coming months.

"I purposely didn't take shows the last couple of months because I was mixing down the (new) songs," he said.

And he said he has a new attitude to go with his new music.

"When I was younger, I was making this music that is pure and is mine. What I also realize is, if you're going to step outside of your house and do this music, then you better entertain. Give 'em something that doesn't compromise you but also puts a smile on their face.

"I'm totally there. I get it, I understand it. I feel like I understand who I am now."

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer - North County Times

“Polished and soulful, singer/songwriter JAC has the kind of vocal capabilities that serve as a conduit to the self-consciousness....At his best, he borders on a male version of Aretha Franklin in terms of vocal capacity...“ - San Diego Reader by Mary Montgomery - San Diego Reader

Not many singers have the stage presence and sense of theatricality that JAC possesses. On a his new six-song EP, the hard charging JAC combines classic rock, 70's glam and prog rock into something both timeless and immediate.

JAC's stage persona is so strong that even on CD, his personality is as dominant as his singing voice. Which is saying something, because he's got a powerhouse set of pipes. He's got ability to combine a strong voice with a nuanced delivery. He can also bounce into a nice falsetto, giving him another octave of range, which he displays to good effect on "Susie."

All six songs were written by JAC, and all are nicely constructed, with a slowly building sense of tension before breaking out into an anthemic chorus.

- Jim Trageser - North County Times