Mix a talented jazz musician with a restaurant/bar that promotes jazz and blues in Colorado Springs and you’ve got a formula for success in Motif owner Steve Draper. He is our featured performer on the Gazette’s live Take 10 on Friday, Sept.29 during the noon hour on the Gazette Facebook News platform.

Draper has been sharpening his skills on the ivories since kindergarten. He said that on trips with his family while he was growing up they would stop in New Orleans and hear the jazz flowing from the clubs and he became infatuated with the Ragtime music of Scott Joplin. As I became older, the moment I became set in jazz was in high school. I listened to a recording of Andre Previn and Oscar Peterson. I was mesmerized by that video in my school library,” he said.

Draper started playing piano in first or second grade by ear. He would pick out Beatles tunes and play them on the piano. He did take classical music lessons but would improvise during lessons and his music teacher hated that.

Draper graduated college with a business degree and eventually got a teaching degree. He taught in Houston for 20 years and continued to play jazz and make audiences smile. He moved to Colorado Springs in 2010 and opened Motif restaurant/bar in Old Colorado City. Draper moved the business in 2016 to its current location, 182 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd.

“When I was a kid, I didn’t have a place to play in high school, even in Houston. I wanted to have a place for the jazz and blues musicians to play in Colorado Springs.”

Draper is ready to perform for you on the Gazette’s live Take 10 segment Friday

We at the Gazette support southern Colorado entertainment and show our love of live performers each week on our Take 10 segment. If you’ve got the gumption to entertain, then we have the platform for you on Take 10 every Friday. Email me with what you can do to wow a crowd, eric.singer@gazette.com. I’d love to hear from you so that you could become the next featured performer on Take 10.

Jazz musician, Steve Draper is the featured artist on the live Take 10 performance on Friday, September 29th during the noon hour on the Gazette News Facebook platform

Jazz musician, Steve Draper is the featured artist on the live Take 10 performance on Friday, September 29th during the noon hour on the Gazette News Facebook platform