Dave Koz

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By: Giget C. Johnson For many years, I have gifted myself tickets to see the Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour. This year I got the ultimate gift of being able to interview Dave Koz. Year 2021 marks the 24th Annual Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour. Year 2020 was virtual and live streamed due to the Covid pandemic, but otherwise Dave Koz and his friends have blessed us with perfect holiday music for many years. Like many artists returning to the road, Dave Koz is excited to say the least. “It ’s a miracle that we’re able to pull this off, even with Covid. It shows how important music is to people, especially during the holidays.” Dave Koz& Friends Christmas Tour opens in Atlanta, Georgia on November 26, 2021. “ There are cities that we go to every single year. Atlanta is one of those places. It ’s usually during the first week of the tour. This is the first time we are starting in Atlanta. The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is the perfect venue and the Atlanta, Georgia audience is so keyed up. That ’s one of the things that ’s really amazing about this tour.” “ Touring at Christmas time, being on the road during the holiday with around 25 shows in about 30 days, with two buses, a semi-truck, and about 22 people, I’d have it no other way.” “It ’s such a beautiful thing, night after night, to get on the stage and to see all of the people coming to the show with open arms, open ears and open hearts, ready to enjoy the music of the season. I’m sure I don’t have to tell

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how important music is for setting the tone for the holiday.” In describing the selection of artists to join him on the tour, Dave Koz, with a smile that could be heard in his voice, said “ This year, in particular, I wanted to surround myself, selfishly, if you will, with MY BEST FRIENDS, and it just so happens that my best friends are also some of the greatest musicians in the world. So it worked out for my benefit this time.” [You’d have to hear the excitement in his voice when he said “WITH MY BEST FRIENDS.” Words aren’t able to express the tone on paper. Let ’s face it, it ’s priceless to have friends who support us. Got friends like Dave Koz? No? Get some new friends!] Then he sets out the starstudded lineup. JONATHAN BUTLER, or J.B. as he called him. “We’ve done so many tours together. He’s my brother from another mother. One of my most favorite people in the whole-wide-world. I always want to be right next to him at Christmas time. It just feels perfect.” RICK BRAUN is “also one of my dearest friends. The way he plays trumpet, especially during the holidays, feels so right.” 38| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jan/Feb

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“And for the first time ever we get RICHARD ELLIOT, on his first ever Christmas tour, joining us. Richard is one of my favorite saxophone players and also one of my favorite humans on the planet. I’m really excited that this will be his first Christmas tour, which he’ll do great. It doesn’t matter what song he’s playing, people just fall in love with that man.” Having interviewed Richard Elliot earlier in the year, I chimed in about how kind and gentle he is, to which Dave Koz responded “gentle until he gets behind a tenor saxophone, then he’s like a lion. The worst place to be in a show is following Richard Elliot.” “I love the man. He’s an incredible artist. Getting him to play some holiday songs will bring a completely new energy to our show.” The show will introduce REBECCA JADE, described as “a chameleon” giving us vibes of “Billie Holiday, Chaka Khan, and Aretha Franklin” in another form, with “an incredible range of emotion that she can create with her voice.” Her showstopper will be a duet with Jonathan Butler “Mary Did You Know.” They Jan/Feb Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 39

are excited to perform in person as they did for the live stream last year. When speaking of how Jonathan Butler appears to have a direct connection to “ The Spirit,” Dave Koz said “the thing that ’s so great is it ’s exciting to be on stage but also terrifying because he’s so in the moment, impulsive, reacting to the spirit within him. It ’s exhilarating and terrifying because you don’t know what he’s going do.” In 2019 Dave Koz released his seventh holiday album. Asked how you create new versions of songs and Dave responded “ There are certain classics that you can’t improve upon. The idea is that you create new, novel ways of recording. We have the “Great Song Book.” The melodies and lyrics are the meat on the bones that lend themselves to artistic treatment based on however you want to come to the song. The artist decides what arrangements are uniquely us. It allows freedom, like a blank canvas using the same paints to paint different pictures. It ’s endlessly inspiring and incredibly fun.” “If you’re a vocalist, you can emote the lyrics. As a musician, the melody is all you got. You have to create the emotion.” In discussing the 2019 holiday release “Gifts of the Season,” we talked about music being consumed in different ways with streaming services. “It works better for artists to have physical items sold.” “More people listen to music because of streaming. Eventually it ’ll catch up so artists can do well with their work.”

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“At Christmas time, my streaming numbers shoot up almost double during the holidays.” “Musical Comfort Food.” My household’s favorite Christmas CD is the 2014 release of Dave Koz & Friends 25th of December. It kicks off the holiday season with the lighting of the Christmas tree. Since 2014, every morning during the holiday season, the tree is plugged in, the CD turned on quietly, and our home awakens to the peacefulness and joy of the season. I mentioned how my 21 year old son called asking for the name of the CD while away at college. It really is a comforting CD. “ That made my week. Tell your son thank you for spreading the news to his young friends.” 25th of December is also one of Dave Koz’s favorites because he got the chance to work with so many of his favorite artists such as Johnny Mathis, Gloria Estefan, Kenny G, and Stevie Wonder. It was produced by Rickey Minor. “ There are so many memories. Albums are a chapter of life.” “When I have a chance to go back and listen to them, it places me immediately in the moment.” Dave Koz’s favorite holiday song to perform is “White Christmas.” “ There’s something so nostalgic about the melody. I lose myself in it.”

Asked who he’d most like to perform with, and he got clarification. “If I’m understanding correctly, you’re asking if in a fantasy world, which artist, dead or alive, I’d most like to collaborate with?” “In my Christmas voice, I really love Nat King Cole, but at Christmas I want to hear Frank Sinatra. It ’s my musical nirvana, where I am the happiest.” He credits his parents for playing Frank Sinatra in his childhood home. Go to the store, or if you’re at a concert, and physically buy a CD. It helps the artist ’s bottom line. The 2019 “Gifts of the Season” is the most recent holiday release but any of the seven holiday albums will set the tone for a peaceful and joyful holiday season. 42| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jan/Feb