- Dave Koz
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For the tennis television personality, see David Kozlowski.
Dave Koz 
Background information Born March 27, 1963 Origin Encino, California Genres Smooth jazz Occupations Musician, Radio host Instruments Saxophone, Piano, drums, EWI Years active 1990 – present Labels Capitol Records (1990–2008), EMI, Rendezvous Entertainment, Concord Records (2009–present) Associated acts Bobby Caldwell Website davekoz.com Dave Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.
Contents
Life and career
Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California.
Dave and the late Wayman Tisdale performing at the Dave Koz & Friends Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006
Koz attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California 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 Jeff Lorber. Koz was a member of Richard Marx's band and toured with Marx throughout the late 1980s. He also played in the house band of CBS' short-lived The Pat Sajak Show, with Tom Scott as bandleader.[1]
In 1990, Koz decided to pursue a solo career, and began recording for Capitol Records. His albums there include Lucky Man, The Dance, and Saxophonic. Saxophonic was nominated for both a Grammy Award 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.
In an April 2004 interview with The Advocate, Koz came out publicly 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 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.
Capitol Records/EMI's "Forever Cool" (2007) features Koz in a new arrangement of "Just in Time" with the voice of the late Dean Martin.
Koz has promoted annual Dave Koz & Friends Jazz Cruises since 2005.
Koz is the host of a weekly half-hour television series named Frequency put on by Fast Focus.[2] Koz interviews musicians on the show such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Jonathan Butler, and Kelly Sweet. At the end of each interview, he plays along with the musician, adding some of his saxophone riffs to one of their hit songs.
Koz was also the bandleader on The Emeril Lagasse Show. The band, Dave Koz & The Kozmos, featured Jeff Golub (guitar), Philippe Saisse (keyboards), Conrad Korsch (bass guitar), and Skoota Warner (drums).[3][4][5]
Koz plays a Yamaha silver alto sax (YAS-62S) with a #7 Beechler metal mouthpiece, a Yamaha straight silver Soprano sax (YSS-62S) or a vintage Conn curved soprano sax with a #8 Couf mouthpiece, and a Selmer Mark 6 Tenor sax with a Berg-Larsen 90/2 hard rubber mouthpiece. As for reeds, he uses size 3 Rico Plasticover.[6]
On September 22, 2009, Koz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[7]
In October 2010, Koz performed "Start All Over Again" in a Desperate Housewives season 7 episode Let Me Entertain You, alongside singer Dana Glover.
Discography
Musical recordings of Koz include:[8]
Albums
Year Album details Peak chart
positionsHot 200
[9]Jazz
[9]1990 Dave Koz 129 1993 Lucky Man 176 — 1996 Off the Beaten Path 182 — Live in Trinidad _ — 1997 December Makes Me Feel This Way — 1999 The Dance [A] 190 3 2001 A Smooth Jazz Christmas [B] 140 3 2002 Golden Slumbers: A Father's Lullaby — — 2003 Saxophonic (2003) — 2 2005 Golden Slumbers: A Father's Love — — 2007 At the Movies 8 2 Memories of a Winter's Night — 7 2008 Greatest Hits 184 3 2010 Hello Tomorrow 104 1 "—" denotes releases that did not chart. - A. "The Dance" also peaked at #67 on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues/Hip Hop Albums.
- B. "Smooth Jazz Christmas" also peaked at #2 on Billboard's Holiday Albums.
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions[10] U.S. Hot 100 U.S. Adult Contemporary Jazz 1990 "Emily" — — — 1991 "Castle of Dreams" — 13 — "Nothing But the Radio On" — 20 — 1993 "You Make Me Smile" — 20 — "Faces of the Heart (ABC Daytime's General Hospital Theme Song) — — — 1994 "Lucky Man" — — — 1999 "Together Again" — — — 2000 "Careless Whisper" (featuring Montell Jordan) — — 30 "Know You by Heart" — — 26 2006 "Somewhere/Summer of '42" — — — 2007 "The Pink Panther Theme" — — 27 "It Might Be You" — — — "White Christmas" — — 22 2008 "Life in the Fast Lane" — — 1 "White Christmas" (rechart) — — 14 2010 "And Then I Knew" — — 13 "Put The Top Down" — — 1 2011 "Starting Over Again" — — 1 "Anything's Possible" — — 1 Compilation appearances
- The Weather Channel Presents: The Best of Smooth Jazz, (2007)
References
- ^ Pack A Picnic And Head For Ste. Michelle's Big Outdoor Concert, The Seattle Times, June 28, 1991
- ^ "Frequency - Hosted by Dave Koz". fastfocus.tv. Public Television Media. http://fastfocus.tv/Media.aspx?id=290. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
- ^ "Television: Emeril Lagasse and Dave Koz". March 22, 2010. http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/03/television-emeril-lagasse-and-dave-koz.html. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
- ^ Aubrey Everett (March 4, 2010). "Dave Koz and Emeril Team Up on TV". JazzTimes. http://jazztimes.com/articles/25803-dave-koz-and-emeril-team-up-on-tv. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ "Dave Koz & The Kozmos". http://www.ionpress.com/Emeril/pdf/Emeril_Dave-Koz-and-Kozmos-Bio.pdf. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
- ^ Professional Saxophone Musician / Player Set-Ups theowanne.com
- ^ Bruce Steele (September 22, 2009). "Koz Celeb". The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Music/Koz_Celeb/. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ Dave Koz Discography, AOL Music.com
- ^ a b "Billboard chart positions > albums". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p30363. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Dave Koz Billboard Singles". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p6910/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
External links
- Dave Koz official website
- 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
- Dave Koz discography at Discogs.
- Listen to Dave Koz radio show online - A partial list of radio stations carrying the Dave Koz radio show, with scheduled broadcast times and streaming links.
- Interview Saxophonist Dave Koz Warns People of the "American Idol Mentality"
Holiday albums - December Makes Me Feel This Way
- A Smooth Jazz Christmas
- Memories of a Winter's Night
- Ultimate Christmas
Singles - "Castle of Dreams"
- "Nothing But the Radio On"
- "Endless Summer Nights"
- "Emily"
- "You Make Me Smile"
- "Faces of the Heart"
- "Lucky Man"
- "Together Again"
- "Careless Whisper"
- "It Might Be You"
- "White Christmas"
Videography - Off the Beaten Path: Live from Trinidad
Compilations - Greatest Hits
Categories:- American jazz alto saxophonists
- American jazz baritone saxophonists
- American jazz soprano saxophonists
- American jazz tenor saxophonists
- American radio personalities
- LGBT musicians from the United States
- People from the San Fernando Valley
- Smooth jazz saxophonists
- 1963 births
- Living people
- Concord Records artists
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