by Jeffrey Moellering
Dave Koz is a world-renowned saxophonist with nine Grammy nominations, nine number one albums on Billboard’s Current Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
He is gearing up for the third installation of his popular Clearwater Smooth Jazz Jam, taking place at Ruth Eckerd Hall on July 18th (Ticket link https://www.rutheckerdhall.com/events/detail/clearwater-smooth-jazz-jam Tampa Bay Music News was fortunate to catch up with Dave for a few minutes during his busy schedule to discuss his upcoming tour, a new album, and his whirlwind career.
TBMN: I believe you concluded your friends at sea cruise recently in June, correct?
DK: “Yes, we just finished about two weeks ago! That one started in the Netherlands and went through Norway and then wound up in Iceland, and back to the Netherlands. It was a really special one. Our mantra is like seeing the world together through music; always going to a different place on the planet, and this one was particularly for the nature lovers. The waterfalls, whale watching, gorgeous fish, the incredible small towns along the coastal shoreline. It was really beautiful.
And it’s so much more – it brings people together. You step on the ship and you’re amongst people that love the same kind of music that you love, and everybody is just bound together through their sharing of the music. And then once you’ve established that foundation, then you can really do some amazing things.”
TBMN: So you’ve got two shows on July 18th and 19th in Clearwater. It looks like an impressive list of performers accompanying you. How do you find time to prepare for that?
DK: “Well, our show this year is the Summer Horn Show, which is something that we usually do every other summer now.
And, it’s a celebration of all the horn section bands’ music that I kind of grew up with, like Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Chicago, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. There’s so many great horn bands that came out of that era, and it’s all feelgood music. That’s the best thing – it’s really, really feelgood music! We have a full horn section made up of younger musicians that are new on the scene, and we have a chance to play all this great music. So that’s what our tour is all about. The nice thing is that we’re all friends, we all know each other very well, and sharing the same stage is always a pleasure.
Ruth Eckerd and the whole Tampa Bay area have always been so incredibly supportive of me and my music, and we’re really excited to bring that. It’s going to be the first weekend of our tour, and there’s going to be 11 people on stage during our show. It’s a production! I think that’s the nice thing about these kinds of festival series. There’s lots of music to marinate in and we can get all these other artists that are doing their things as well. I think it’ll be a really, special one.”
TBMN: So how does that work in terms of how you fit in with all the other horns there, given that you’re the feature performer?
DK: “My musical DNA started by playing in a horn section – actually, the saxophone section in a big band. So, it’s kind of a return for me. That’s why we keep doing this. It’s a return to the roots of where I started, so I love playing in a horn section. But yes, there’s a lot of my music that will also be arranged for a horn section, so I’ll still be able to do the leads, but a variety of other really incredible artists that are on this bill in the summer horn series will be doing their music as well. It’s a nice mix of everybody.
Because at my core, I’m a collaborator; collaborating with and featuring other musicians. That’s what my crew is; we have the veteran artists of course, but we also have a real palate of new artists every time we do this. A very important thing to me is in a sense mentoring or showcasing and cheerleading the next generation of artists as well.”
TBMN: I listened to your new album “Just Us” with Bob James. I see it’s being warmly received and justly so. I know you’ve played with Bob over the years, but how did this particular album come together, and are you going to be playing any of those songs, on the current tour?
DK: “No, not on the current tour, because this tour is really, like probably the ultimate summer party. I want to first of all, thank you for acknowledging that album, which was very amazing for me and something completely different. I’ve never done anything like that.
The whole idea came as a result of when I asked Bob to be a part of one of our cruises, and he agreed to doing it, but he said under one condition – that he would like for us to record a couple of songs just for those cruise guests. So that’s it, and it worked so well that I went to his place in northern Michigan.
We hit it off, recording these songs in his living room and it went so easy, and we decided to do a couple more, and then we did even a couple more. It was not something that either of us planned to do.
But I think because we were in a sense intoxicated by the sound of our instruments, being together without an intrusion of any other input; just, piano and sax, in their full glory. We got really enamored with the sound that we were making, so we decided to do an album, and I’m very proud of it!”
TBMN: Perhaps to a casual observer, it seems as if your career has leapfrogged from one success to another. You started off with the late, great Bobby Caldwell, went on with Jeff Lorber, and Richard Marx, Arsenio Hall – some real heavy hitters, and then your remarkable solo career. Do you take moments at this point to step back and reflect on what a rocket ride it has been for you these past few decades?
DK: “It’s always a nice thing to reflect on. And thank you; it’s really nice that you did your research and went over my last few decades! It does feel in a lot of ways like a magic carpet ride, but not without its moments of like touching down and really, like you say, really reflecting on how wonderful it’s been, because it’s kind of been a bit of a storybook. My career has not had like these momentous highs, where you have big explosions of everybody knowing you. It’s really been more of this steady climb. Nothing too crazy. I think that’s kind of been by design, and it feels very organic.
I’ve got a chance to work with some unbelievable artists who have shaped me and pushed me in ways that I never thought that I could be pushed, and people seeing things in me that I didn’t even know were there. So, it’s certainly not something that I’ve done alone; I’ve had a lot of help, and I’m very grateful for that.”
TBMN: Was there ever a time early on or otherwise that, that you wondered, “Gee, did I make the right choice to pursue music or if it wasn’t evolving the way that you expected?”
DK: “There’s always times when you want things to happen that don’t, and you hit your head against the wall and you say, ‘Oof, this hurts!’ And there’s trials, tribulations and fits and stops that normally come with a long-term career. But I would say, overall, I would look at it and say that it’s been almost like a dream.
I didn’t set out to have a career in music. I went to UCLA as a communications major and was fully planning on having a regular job. It was not something that I thought was even possible for me. Kind of a risky thing. But again, there were those people you mentioned too, Bobby Caldwell and Jeff Lorber. They were people who said, ‘No, you gotta DO this. This is something that you got to look into’, and they nurtured me. The next thing I knew, I had a career. I was signed to Capital Records and was releasing music. And, when I say I didn’t do it alone, a career really always is a product of a lot of people helping.”
TBMN: Do you also still do the Sunday Sirius Radio show?
DK: “I do. That’s been on the air for over 10 years. And I also do a broadcast show on terrestrial radio that’s been on the air about 5 years now. I have a little portable rig that I can take anywhere I go. And I still make sure that the show gets done and on the air!”
TBMN: I saw you had a collaboration a few years back with, with the great David Sanborn, who of course recently passed, and I understand that he was a big hero of yours.
DK: “Well, I grew up worshiping, idolizing, trying to mimic David Sanborn, who was my number one saxophone hero! I got a chance to meet him when I was in high school, tongue-tied. I ultimately got a chance to be a colleague, to get to know him well and to go on tour together. And then, it was actually during COVID that I was talking to David and we were both like all the musicians in the world – we were all kind of at home, and I said ‘Let’s write a song together, and let’s play it together!’ That actually happened, and it’s a song called “Side By Side”. David is someone I will miss for the rest of my life. A very, very special person. Very humble, very funny. And, by the way, we just did a big tribute to David on the last night of our cruise. All the saxophone players. It was like 12 saxophone players, paying tribute to him. So, he will always be a big part of my life.”
TBMN: Well, thanks to you, and for coming way over here to the other coast to play for us in Clearwater! We are very excited to see the shows!
Saxophonist Dave Koz will perform at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on July 18th. It’s bound to be two nights of high energy, virtuosic, and uplifting music, so don’t miss out!