Zac Maggi has a favorite memory of performing music in Clinton: playing his trumpet off the roof of the Elks Building at the dedication of the new building. The new building replaced the three-story building that had collapsed in 2006, resulting in the death of one person and injuring several.
“They were raising the flag for the first time,” he said of playing at the dedication. “The sound was bouncing off the sides of the buildings in the Square.”
Zac is a lawyer in Clinton, but is also known for his musical talent, which resounds throughout the community. Starting in grade school, he continued to play the trumpet through college, law school and after he moved back to Clinton to practice law.
“Music has always been a constant in my life,” he said.
Zac started playing the trumpet when he was 10 years old, he said, and joined the school band in fifth grade. When he was 11, his family moved to Clinton, where his father, David Maggi, served as minister of Clinton United Methodist Church for 20 years.
Both his parents had played the trumpet, he said, and when Zac started playing, they bought him an inexpensive instrument and his father picked it and started playing again. His mother switched to the baritone, a brass instrument that is lower in pitch, and the family would play at events, including fall festivals in Lowry City.
After graduating from Clinton High School, Zac attended the University of Missouri, where he was in the Marching Mizzou. Being a part of the band helped him make the transition to a large university.
“My graduating class in Clinton was 119,” he said. “I had classes at Mizzou that were bigger than that.”
While he was attending law school at the University of Missouri, he and his roommate had the job of being in charge of Big Mo, the Marching Mizzou’s huge bass drum on a wheeled cart. That particular drum is gone, Zac said, replaced by an even bigger one, but the bass drum they wheeled around was nearly six feet in diameter.
“We walked it into the game and would run it around the field and hit it every once in a while,” he said.
Zac also played the trumpet in a band at a neighboring college in Columbia while he was in law school, he said.
He didn’t follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, also a Methodist minister, and jokes that his family wonders “where I went wrong.” But Zac said he always wanted to be a lawyer, because he likes to read and apply critical thinking skills. He quotes a friend from law school who had a master’s degree in saxophone, who said “I like to play jazz, but I needed a day job.”
Being a lawyer is more than just a day job for Zac, who defines a lawyer as a person you hire when you need help. And making a living as a musician wasn’t really in the cards, he said. But some days, the two vocations do cross — he takes his trumpet to his office on the Square when he is asked to play Taps at a funeral, and can fit it into his schedule.
He also plays at the Veteran’s Charity Golf Scrambles. The first year, he played Taps in honor of Lewis Daugherty, a World War II veteran who passed away in 2002 at the age of 97.
Zac also plays with the Alumni Band at UM. This past fall, he played at a basketball game when the Marching Mizzou was out of town marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Zac and spouse Susan Maggi, who teaches at Clinton Intermediate School, took their two daughters to the game, the girls’ first Mizzou sports game.
A plus of being involved in music at Mizzou: he knows musicians from all over the state, he said, and has mutual acquaintances through the two music fraternities at UM, one of which he was a member.
Another memorable musical moment: playing a mash-up of “This is My Father’s World” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful Life” for his father, he said. Zac is a member of the Chancel Band at Clinton United Methodist Church and the Clinton Community Band, and performs for special events in the area, including at Valley Christian Church in Deepwater.
Zac is also a member of the Clinton Arts Council, which has brought jazz and big bands to town.
He and Susan go to Kansas City for classical music concerts, and travel out of town to see their favorite musicians. They have a list of musicians they have seen on stage, and those they want to see. Hearing Aretha Franklin sing “Respect” in Kansas City was especially amazing, he said.
Another high point on his musical memory scale: introducing his daughters to music on the days they were born. He started with recordings that provoke an emotional response in him: “Hey, Jude,” “Sweet Child of Mine” and “Birdland.” He also asked friends on Facebook to send in suggestions of their favorite songs, and got tons of responses. Now he and Susan play “Name that Tune” with the girls, 7 and 3 years old, to develop their memory and ear for music.
Through his continued commitment to music, Zac enriches his life and that of his family. His music also raises the spirits of the community and transcends the moment, whether he’s sounding Taps in memory of a veteran, or playing notes from a rooftop that echo around the Square.
