Let’s Talk About Sax! An Interview with Dave Koz

 

by tim parks

 

Musician Dave Koz is experiencing the professional equivalent of being on cloud nine, as he has been nominated as “Entertainer of the Year” for the inaugural American Smooth Jazz Awards, being held in Michigan City, Indiana on October 29. 

 

As if this weren’t enough of a celestial boost, Koz literally saw stars, in the singular sense, when he was presented with his very own on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last September. 

 

The venerable saxophonist is currently touring with guitarist Jonathan Butler and percussionist Sheila E., and Southern Californians can catch him at the Long Beach Jazz Festival on August 14 and the Thornton Winery in Temecula on August 28 and 29.

 

The 47-year-old is also readying his forthcoming CD,   Hello Tomorrow, for an October 19 release date. His latest effort features the openly gay performer’s rendition of Herb Alpert’s song “This Guy’s in Love With You,” on which he sings.

 

This is quite indicative of the new musical ground he’s treading upon by stepping outside of his comfort zone, as he told The Rage Monthly. 

 

Dave Koz: I was born and raised in California and Los Angeles. I kind of grew up where stars were in the back yard. I use to go with my parents and walk down the street and look at those names. I’d ask my mom, “Who’s this and who’s that?”

 

Now, somebody can be walking with their parents and walk over to my star and say, “Who the hell is Dave Koz (laughter)?” It all comes full circle. To say the word “surreal” doesn’t even do it justice. It was such an outrageously “pinch me” moment.

 

How did this happen? How did I get here? I just kind of embraced it. I had a great time and was surrounded by family, friends, colleagues and fans. It was a day I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.

DK: I went 20 years on Capitol Records as an artist there. When I found out that the star was coming, I scoped out a spot. I kept my fingers crossed and prayed that they would actually give it to me. And they did! It’s right at the front door.

 

You’ve got Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt, all The Beatles, Natalie Cole and all these huge megastars and there’s me (laughter).

DK: Jonathan and I have known each other for years. He and I are like kindred spirits. He likes to call us, “brothers from another mother.” As for playing with both of them, what is most exciting or exhilarating is that they are completely on the edge of unpredictability.

 

They’re so much alike, the two of them in that you never know what really is going to happen. There is a lot of spontaneity on stage. For someone like me, even though sometimes it’s terrifying or scary, I really love being pushed and prodded that way on stage. It makes for an always interesting and entertaining show. Inside of that well-rehearsed show are huge chunks that are completely improvisational.

 

I love watching the reaction of the audience to Sheila. First of all, she’s gorgeous. She wears these huge high heels. Then, she gets behind a drum set and kills it!

 

DK: It’s kind of an important thing now, especially because radio’s been so strange, with a lot of radio stations flipping formats. So, it’s nice to have this organization set up to pay some attention to the music that’s been on the airwaves for a long time, and in a lot of people’s hearts, too.

 

DK: They put on a fantastic show there, and also because you are surrounded by your contemporaries that are there with other bands, every group that’s on the stage realizes they have to bring their A game, so the music’s always great. It’s nice to see friends that you may not see very often, too.   

DK: I’m very excited about this album; it’s my debut for Concorde Records. I work with the great Marcus Miller, who’s a bass player and producer, and John Burk who is the other producer. This is a very live recording with live musicians – the best musicians on the planet.

 

And what the title signifies to me on a personal level, and I think for a lot of people of a certain age – myself included – who are trying to figure out how to embrace the amount of change that’s going on in the world; and how do we see ourselves in this next chapter as we turn the page.

 

Because there is so much going on, everything we counted on as the pillars on which we built our lives, everything has changed; trying to find solid ground right now is very difficult.

 

So I wanted to combat that with a recording that would hopefully awaken people on a musical level to, in a sense, embrace the future. There’s a lot of embracing the discomfort zone on this album for me, and it’s a very hopeful album.

DK: I ended up singing because I heard it with different ears this time. It’s always been one of my favorite songs, but I heard it within the framework of the time that we’re living in, especially as a gay man, the time for gay marriage is now. It’s not even let’s argue about it or have a conversation about it; it’s so much like, “Yes, now’s the time.”

 

And I heard that song as being somewhat of a gay marriage anthem, I just heard it that way. I called up Herb Alpert, whose one of my chief mentors in life, because I wanted to get his blessing on this reworking of the song.

 

And he said, “Not only do you have my blessing, but send me the track, I might see if I can play a couple of notes on it.” So he does play on it, and that makes it extra special to have the guy who made the song famous be on this version of it.

 

DK: I think this music digs way deeper down and drills down to another place than I’ve done in the past; a lot of it has to do with him. His overriding musicality is so entrenched and so deep, and when you have that kind of thing that goes way down deep, you can build these much more elaborate structures on top of it, because you have the foundation there to hold it.

 

And that’s what he provides, both figuratively and also phonically, he was a major source of foundation for me to try these things. He really pushed and prodded me in a bunch of different ways. I was so out of my comfort zone, that for the first couple of days of recording I was not enjoying it.

 

Then I settled into it and realized this is what the album is exactly about, which is the essence of being alive in 2010. It’s been a real journey, in fact, he wrote a song for this album called “The Journey,” and that’s really what the album making process was like; and what I feel that my life process has been.

 

It’s been a wonderful journey up until this point, and, in many ways I feel that the best is yet to come.