Interview by Ronnie Dee
[ As he prepares for the next to last Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour, the celebrated saxophonist reflects on nearly three decades of holiday music, the healing power of live performance, and the freedom to discover what comes next. Dave Koz & Friends – Friday, December 4, 8:00 PM | Ruth Eckerd Hall
Tickets https://www.rutheckerdhall.com ]
Talking with Dave Koz feels less like an interview and more like catching up with a friend. We started with our dogs. Dave told me Buddy was “the best dog in the world.” I say “my dog Tucker is also the best dog in the world.” Dave added, “Buddy is a real road dog!” I guess neither of us was willing to concede the title. From there, the conversation moved into music, the future, and what happens when an artist who has spent nearly three decades building a holiday tradition begins to imagine his musical life beyond it.
For Koz, the upcoming NEXT TO LAST DAVE KOZ & FRIENDS CHRISTMAS TOUR is more than another season of performances. It is the beginning of a transition, an opportunity to make room for new creative experiences after years of returning to the road each holiday season. When I asked if he might make another record with legendary pianist Bob James, I could “hear” Koz smile through the phone. “I don’t want to say there won’t be one,” he said, explaining that the two have discussed the possibility. Their previous project pushed both musicians into new territory, and that experience left him wanting to explore further.
Koz even has a picture in his mind of how it might happen. He hopes to again visit James in northern Michigan, and “Just hang in his living room with his Steinway grand piano and a saxophone,” the idea of returning to a room with just two instruments says something about what continues to excite him. (Dave Koz and legendary pianist Bob James teamed up for Just Us, a GRAMMY nominated and intimate jazz album showcasing the musical chemistry between saxophone and piano. Listen to Just Us by Bob James and Dave Koz a fave of mine! Listen Here
That same sense of discovery is what keeps live performance alive for Koz. No two audiences are exactly alike, and no two nights unfold in quite the same way. The music may be rehearsed, but the energy in the room and the show is always changing. He described the moment when he crosses the imaginary line from backstage into the lights and music. Whatever mood he happens to be in before the show, something changes when the performance begins. “Even if I’m in a bad mood or I’m not in the mood, the minute I cross that line, everything becomes right.”
For Koz, performing is not simply a matter of playing the notes correctly. It is the shared experience between the musicians and the people in front of them, an exchange of energy that cannot be fully recreated anywhere else. As a fellow performer, I must agree. That is especially true during the Christmas tour. After so many years of performing holiday music, Koz could easily settle into a familiar routine. Instead, he sees the songs as material that can continue to evolve. Christmas songs, he explained, have “meat on their bones.” They can be rearranged, reimagined, and brought to life in new ways each year.
One of the most exciting examples this season is his new single “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” The new arrangement came from singer Haley Reinhart, whose idea impressed Koz enough that he was eager to hear what she would do with it. “She completely crushed it,” he said. The song has always carried a gorgeous and bittersweet quality to me. In this version, Koz plays with a vintage growl, vibrato and deeper sadness, a retro production reminiscent of the 1960s and the legendary Wall of Sound.
The Christmas tour itself began in 1997 with just a handful of performances. At the time, Koz could hardly have imagined that the idea would become a major annual tradition lasting nearly 30 years. Now, as he prepares for the final edition planned for 2027, he is thinking about what it means to let go of something that has become such a large part of his professional life.
For years, the final two months of the year have belonged to the tour. Now he wants to see what might happen if that time were available for other creative pursuits, unexpected collaborations, and new discoveries. It is not a rejection of the past. It is an acknowledgment that an artist can appreciate what he has built while still being curious about what comes next.
That willingness to look forward also runs through Smooth World, a 90 minute documentary directed by Mickey Duzyj that explores the world of smooth jazz and the creative partnership between Koz and guitarist Cory Wong. Koz spoke warmly about Duzyj, describing him as a dear friend and someone he came to trust throughout the filmmaking process. Rather than trying to control how his story would be presented, he decided to show up honestly and allow the film to unfold. View Trailer
Dave pauses and tells me,” I have decided that I would show up without any masks in this movie, and really just told him my story which, honestly, in all these years has never been told from my perspective. It’s very intimate and very personal and very vulnerable”. Although the film is connected to jazz and the community surrounding it, its themes reach beyond music into questions of identity and the person behind the public image.
Koz hopes the documentary will find a home with a streaming service in the near future, allowing a wider audience to see a side of his life that does not always come through in a concert. Dave’s openness led naturally to a more personal question. If he could offer one piece of advice to the 23 year old version of himself, what would he say? His answer was simple, but it carried the weight of years spent learning how to accept himself. “It’s OK to be who you are.”
Koz acknowledged that he had pushed down parts of himself for a long time. Many people, he observed, carry aspects of their identity that make them uncomfortable or that they have learned to hide. They spend years trying to suppress those feelings rather than accepting them. His advice to his younger self was not about fame, success, or avoiding professional mistakes. It was about giving himself permission to be the person he already was. “It’s OK to be yourself. It’s going to be OK.”
The words carry particular weight coming from Koz, who publicly came out as gay in 2004 after years of keeping that part of his life private. His advice wasn’t about career success or musical achievement. It was about the freedom that comes with finally allowing yourself to be who you are. Behind the polished performances, the familiar smile, and the decades of success is a person who understands that confidence does not always come with achievement. Sometimes it comes from finally making peace with yourself.
That perspective also informs how Koz sees America today. Touring gives him a chance to experience different communities, state by state. He described this as a strange and difficult time in America, with division and conflict affecting the national mood. He’s also encouraged by the audiences at his shows. People come to a concert looking for joy, connection, and a break from the pressures of everyday life. During the holiday season, that feeling is especially strong.
He wants his performances to provide some of that relief, to give people a couple of hours when they can put aside the arguments and anxieties waiting outside the venue. He has told me this before, and it is a beautiful and sincere hope for him. For Koz, music has a unique ability to bring people together across the lines that otherwise divide them. “Live music gives strangers a common experience without requiring them to agree on anything first.” I agree! He sees it as one of the purest things people can share, a chance to stop thinking about everything else and simply be present.
It was an easy, friendly ending to a conversation that had moved from dogs and future recordings to identity, vulnerability, and the power of music to connect people.
For nearly three decades, the Christmas tour has been a defining part of Dave Koz’s life. The next to last edition is a chance to celebrate that funky and fun history while beginning to imagine a different future. The final tour in 2027 will bring that particular tradition to a close, but it will not mark the end of his curiosity.
If anything, Dave Koz sounds ready to follow it wherever it leads, whether that means making music in Bob James’s living room, his own smooth jazz records, discovering new creative territory, and continuing his joyful work of bringing people together through live performance.
After all these years, the thing that still excites him most is the moment when the lights come up, the music begins, and the room becomes something shared. For Dave Koz, that is where everything becomes right. I’m sure he’s ready for what comes next, and that the “Next to last Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour” is going to be a must see.
I’ll be there. Hope you will too. Thank you Dave, thank you music.