Dave Koz

Early life

Dave Koz was born in Los Angeles, California to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologist and Audrey, a pharmacist. He grew up in the Encino neighborhood. Dave has a brother, Jeff, who is also a musician, and a sister, Roberta. Although he is Jewish, Koz plays both Christmas and occasional Hanukkah songs at his concerts. He attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, 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.

Career

Within weeks of deciding to be a professional musician, he was recruited as a member of Bobby Caldwell's tour. Koz was originally a rock saxophonist before he moved to smooth jazz in 1989. For the rest of the 1980s, Koz served as a session musician in several rock bands, and toured with Jeff Lorber. Koz was a member of rock musician Richard Marx's band and toured with Marx throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, which was around the time he recurred as the guest saxophonist on the syndicated late-night talk show The Arsenio Hall Show. He also played in the house band of CBS' short-lived The Pat Sajak Show, with Tom Scott as bandleader.

In 1989, Koz decided to pursue a solo career, and began recording for Capitol Records. His albums there include Dave Koz (his 1990 solo debut), Lucky Man, The Dance, and Saxophonic. Saxophonic was nominated for both a Grammy Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Koz released his second album, Lucky Man, in 1993. During production of the album in 1992, Koz was approached by the producers of ABC's General Hospital to perform on the show after his track entitled "Emily", from his Dave Koz album, was used as part of the show's soundtrack that year. After his GH appearance, executive producer Wendy Riche commissioned Koz to write a new theme song for the soap. Koz took elements from the show's existing theme song, Jack Urbont's "Autumn Breeze", and merged the chorus notes into a brand new smooth jazz composition titled "Faces of the Heart". The new theme music made its debut on *General Hospital'''s 30th anniversary show, which aired April 1, 1993, and remained as the show's title track until August 27, 2004. "Faces of the Heart" ended up as the third track on Koz's *Lucky Man'' album.

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 The Dave Koz Morning Show 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.

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. 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).

Koz hosts a weekly radio show on the Sirius-XM Radio Watercolors channel called "The Dave Koz Lounge," which airs Sundays at noon ET.

On September 22, 2009, Koz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In October 2010, Koz performed "Start All Over Again" in a Desperate Housewives season 7 episode "Let Me Entertain You", alongside singer Dana Glover. In July 2012, he appeared on The Eric André Show, season 1 episode 7, and sat in with the house band.

In December 2014, he opened Spaghettini & the Dave Koz Lounge, a restaurant and live music venue located at 184 North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, California with business partners Cary Hardwick and Laurie Sisneros, who own Spaghettini in Seal Beach.

In 2018, Koz collaborated with guitarist and regular Vulfpeck contributor, Cory Wong, on two tracks, "The Optimist" and "Friends at Sea". The two collaborated again in 2021 for the album The Golden Hour, including the single "Today".

In 2022, Koz collaborated with singer-songwriter Ben Rector on the track "Supernatural" from Rector's album The Joy of Music.

In March 2025, Koz released Just Us, a duets album with Bob James. With seven original songs and three standards, Just Us is uniquely raw and unplugged with just the saxophone and piano only. Regarding the album, Koz has said, "When you only have two instruments, as we have here, taking up the entire sonic space, each can be heard in a much clearer, bolder, bigger way. It's amazing and scary because we hear all the breaths, clicks and pad noise. Those who go on this ride with us will hear our instruments in a whole new way."

Instruments

Koz plays a Yamaha silver plated alto saxophone (YAS-62S Mk. I) with a No. 7 Beechler metal mouthpiece, a Yamaha straight silver plated Soprano saxophone (YSS-62S) or a vintage Conn curved soprano sax with a No. 8 Couf mouthpiece, and a Selmer Mark VI Tenor sax with a Berg-Larsen 90/2 hard rubber mouthpiece. As for reeds, he uses a No. 3 Rico Plasticover. Koz occasionally plays keyboards and piano, with which he also composes his songs.

Personal life

In an April 2004 interview with The Advocate, Koz came out publicly as gay. He has been a resident of Sausalito, California since 1990.

Discography

Main article: Dave Koz discography

Solo studio albums

• Dave Koz (1990)
• Lucky Man (1993)
• 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)
• Hello Tomorrow (2010)
• Ultimate Christmas (2011)
• Dave Koz and Friends: Summer Horns (2013)
• Rest (2014)
• Dave Koz & Friends: The 25th of December (2014)
• Dave Koz and Friends: 20th Anniversary Christmas (2017)
• Dave Koz and Friends: Summer Horns II From A to Z (2018)
• Gifts of the Season (2019)
• A New Day (2020)
• A Romantic Night In (The Love Songs Album) (2021)

Collaboration studio albums

• The Golden Hour | Dave Koz and Cory Wong (2021)
• Just Us | Bob James and Dave Koz (2025)

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Dave Koz {{!}} Artist".
2. (January 28, 2012). "Marvin, Dave Koz & the Movies — PNC Pops".
3. Ford, Dave. (August 20, 2004). "Record exec, radio star and smooth-jazz man. Dave Koz now settles into his newest groove: being an out gay man".
4. Akamatsu, Rhetta. (November 27, 2011). "Concert Review: Dave Koz and Friends Christmas, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Atlanta, GA11/25/11".
5. Condran, Ed. (November 28, 2013). "Dave Koz brings Christmas spirit to Durham". newsobserver.com.
6. "Pack A Picnic And Head For Ste. Michelle's Big Outdoor Concert | The Seattle Times".
7. Heffley, Lynne. (September 26, 2002). "'Family' CD Puts Them to Sleep; 'Golden Slumber,' lullabies from Dave Koz and his smooth-jazz collaborators, is the first release on his new record label". The Los Angeles Times.
8. "Frequency – Hosted by Dave Koz". Public Television Media.
9. (March 22, 2010). "Television: Emeril Lagasse and Dave Koz".
10. Aubrey Everett. (March 4, 2010). "Dave Koz and Emeril Team Up on TV". [[JazzTimes]].
11. "Dave Koz & The Kozmos".
12. Harr, Dan. (April 7, 2014). "Keb' Mo' And Vincent Ingala Join Dave Koz and Friends at Sea For 2014 Alaska Cruise". Music News Nashville.
13. "Watercolors Smooth/Contemporary Jazz". Sirius XM Radio.
14. Steele, Bruce. (September 22, 2009). "Koz Celeb". [[The Advocate (LGBT magazine).
15. "The Eric André Show, Season 1, Episode 7, 'J-Moe'".
16. Matt Lopez, 'Spaghettini Beverly Hills Set To Open With Performance By Santana's Andy Vargas', ''[[The Beverly Hills Courier]]'', December 5, 2014, Volume XXXXVIIII, Number 48, p. 4
17. (November 17, 2018). "ニキビ治療薬ディフェリンゲルの注意点".
18. Berenson, Sam. (November 20, 2018). "Premiere: Cory Wong Finally Gets 'The Koz Nod' On New Collaborative Single, 'Friends At Sea'".
19. "The Golden Hour".
20. (May 7, 2021). "Dave Koz and Cory Wong // "Today"".
21. (2022-01-07). "Ben Rector Rings in the New Year with Three Leading Tracks from Upcoming Album".
22. Vail, Greg. "What the Pros Play – Saxophonist Dave Koz". Woodwind & Brasswind.
23. (September 22, 2009). "Koz Celeb". The Advocate.
24. Vary, Adam B.. (April 27, 2004). "Just Koz: Smooth-Jazz Golden Boy Dave Koz Comes Out-Fresh off His Adventurous New Album, Saxophonic". The Advocate.
25. (November 18, 2016). "12 Questions for Dave Koz – Marin Magazine – December 2016 – Marin County, California".
26. Washington, Arlene. (February 6, 2015). "NAACP Image Awards: The Winners". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
27. "2026 GRAMMYS: See The Full Nominations List {{!}} GRAMMY.com".