From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dave Koz (March 27, 1963) is an American jazz saxophonist. Because the two both look and sound similar, Koz often draws comparisons to another well-known saxophonist, David Sanborn, and is sometimes billed as "the second coming of Sanborn". He usually plays soprano and alto saxophones, but sometimes plays tenor and occasionally baritone.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Trivia 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 EPs / Singles 4 References 5 External links

Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. From an early age, he and his sister took piano lessons. "My mom basically forced my sister and me to play piano from when we were toddlers. I hated piano; I was never any good at it. But I have to thank her now for making me do it, because I write most of my songs on the piano." Around age nine, he rebelled and began taking drum lessons, but notes that he was not very good at drums, "I am the world's worst drummer. I could not keep time to save my life." At age 13, his brother, Jeff, had a band that Dave wanted to be in, but his brother told him over and over that there was no way he could be in it. Dave eventually wore him down, and his brother told him that the only way he could be in the band was if he could play the saxophone, because their band did not have a saxophonist. That was all he needed to hear. Two years later, he was in the band and working gigs with the band and by himself.

Dave attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, performing on saxophone as a member of the school jazz band. He later graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications in 1986, and only weeks after his graduation, decided to make a go of becoming a professional musician. Within weeks of that decision, he was recruited as a member of Bobby Caldwell's tour. For the rest of the 1980s, Koz served as a session musician in several bands, toured with artists such as Richard Marx, and increased his popularity playing in the house band on Pat Sajak's late-night talk show, with Tom Scott as bandleader.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, Koz decided to pursue a solo career, and began recording for Capitol Records. The move proved to be successful, and his self-titled album earned high praise from critics and fans alike. His later albums include Lucky Man, The Dance, and Saxophonic. Saxophonic was nominated for both a Grammy and an NAACP Image Award.

In 1994, Koz began hosting a syndicated radio program, "The Dave Koz Radio Show" (formerly "Personal Notes"), featuring the latest music and interviews with who's who in the genre. Dave co-hosted of The Dave Koz Morning Show With Pat Prescott on 94.7 The Wave, a smooth jazz station in Los Angeles for six years. He decided to leave the show in January 2007 and was replaced by Brian McKnight.

In 2002, Koz started a record label, Rendezvous Entertainment, with Frank Cody and Hyman Katz. One of the first albums from that label was Golden Slumbers: A Father's Lullaby, which came at the time his brother Jeff became a father for the first time.

In an April 2004 interview with The Advocate, Koz came out publicily as a gay man. Later the same year, he was named by People magazine as one of their "50 Hottest Bachelors" in their June issue.

In 2004 he recorded the Luther Vandross song "If Only For One Night" with Paul Jackson, Jr., Brian Culbertson and Lenny Castro, as one of the tracks for the GRP Records tribute album, Forever, For Always, For Luther.^[1] In 2006, he played on all the songs for the followup tribute album, released this time on his own Rendezvous Entertainment label, called Forever, For Always, For Luther Volume II, which also was produced by Rex Rideout and Bud Harner.^[2] Vandross also appeared as a background vocalist on the single "Can't Let You Go (The Sha-La Song)" from Koz's 1999 album, The Dance.

In 2006, Koz was selected to host a syndicated afternoon show for Broadcast Architecture's new Smooth Jazz Network. The show, based in Los Angeles, is broadcast on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country. Koz and Ramsey Lewis are the only two Smooth Jazz personalities to host two different syndicated shows during the week.

Koz has promoted annual Dave Koz & Friends Jazz Cruises since 2005; a fourth such cruise is scheduled for November, 2008.

Koz plays the saxophone in The Power Hour's bumper music.^{[citation needed]}

• Initially picked up the saxophone as a means of gaining entry into his big brother's band.
• The first record Koz ever bought was Tower of Power's Back to Oakland, memorizing all of the solos and horn lines played by Lenny Pickett.
• Koz performed "Faces of the Heart", which served as the theme song on the ABC hit soap General Hospital from 1993 to 2004.
• Dave Koz performed Careless Whisper with "Asia's Songbird" (Regine Velasquez) during his visit in the Philippines.
• He is endorsed by Yamaha and plays primarily Yamaha horns.
• Has a Conn curved soprano saxophone that was made in the 1920s. He generally only plays this horn live.
• Serves as a Global Ambassador for the Starlight Children's Foundation.
• Known for his enthusiastic stage presence.

^[3]

• Dave Koz (1990)
• Lucky Man (1993) (Best selling album)
• Off the Beaten Path (1996)
• December Makes Me Feel This Way (1997)
• The Dance (1999)
• A Smooth Jazz Christmas (2001)
• Golden Slumbers: A Father's Lullaby (2002)
• Saxophonic (2003)
• Golden Slumbers: A Father's Love (2005)
• At The Movies (2007)
• Memories Of A Winter's Night (2007)

• Castle of Dreams, (1990)
• Nothing But the Radio On, (1991)
• Emily, (1992)
• You Make Me Smile, (1993)
• Faces of the Heart (General Hospital Theme Song), (1993)
• Lucky Man, (1994)
• Careless Whisper, (2000)
• Somewhere/Summer of '42', (2006)
• It Might Be You, (2007)

• Dave Koz official website
• Dave Koz at MySpace.com^[4]
• The Dave Koz Radio Show
• The Dave Koz & Friends Cruise
• The beauty of coming out, by Dave Koz Personal essay in The Advocate
• Audio interview recorded February 2007