Dave Koz

Dave Koz has earned recognition as a leading voice on the contemporary jazz saxophone, building a career defined by consistent chart success and broad appeal since launching his solo work in 1990 with a self-titled debut album that entered the Billboard contemporary jazz rankings and remained for multiple weeks. The platinum-certified artist has received nine Grammy nominations, reached the summit of the contemporary jazz charts on five occasions, secured fourteen singles within the Top Ten, and accumulated twenty tracks across the jazz songs listings. He has also established himself as an experienced radio and television presenter while maintaining strong draw as a live performer. His playing blends intensity and drive, often evoking the approach of David Sanborn while extending into adult contemporary R&B territory. Standout releases include the 1993 album Lucky Man, the 1999 project Dance with its array of featured artists, the 2001 holiday recording A Smooth Jazz Christmas (one of four seasonal collections), the 2007 set At the Movies, and the well-received Summer Horns in 2013. He attained the number-two position on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart with 2020’s A New Day and later joined guitarist Cory Wong for the 2021 release Golden Hour. In 2022 he commemorated his long-running holiday tour through Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Ballads 25th Anniversary Collection.

Born in Tarzana, California, in 1963, Koz was raised in Encino by his dermatologist father and pharmacist mother alongside two siblings, one of whom is musician Jeff Koz. He began studying music during elementary school and continued at William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, a Los Angeles suburb, where he performed saxophone in the school jazz ensemble. After earning a mass communications degree from UCLA in 1986, he committed to a professional music career and soon toured with singer-songwriter and pop-jazz pianist Bobby Caldwell. Upon returning, he spent the rest of the decade working as a session and touring musician alongside Jeff Lorber and Richard Marx while also playing in the house band for CBS’s short-lived The Pat Sajak Show under bandleader Tom Scott; he further appeared frequently as a saxophonist on The Arsenio Hall Show into the 1990s.

Koz secured a deal with EMI, the label that issued ten of his albums, among them 1993’s Lucky Man, 1996’s Off the Beaten Path, 1999’s The Dance, and 2003’s Saxophonic, which earned Grammy and NAACP Image Award nominations while reaching number three on the Jazz Albums chart. During sessions for Lucky Man, ABC’s General Hospital producers invited him to record the track “Emily” from his debut for the program’s soundtrack in 1992. Following that appearance, executive producer Wendy Riche asked him to compose a new theme; he incorporated portions of the existing melody with a fresh chorus to create “Faces of the Heart,” which premiered on the show’s 30th-anniversary episode in 1993 and stayed in use until 2004.

Koz launched the syndicated The Dave Koz Radio Show in 1994, presenting music and conversations with prominent jazz figures, and co-hosted The Dave Koz Morning Show on Los Angeles smooth-jazz station 94.7 The Wave for six years. His 1996 album Off the Beaten Path introduced his own vocals on the track “That’s the Way I Feel About You.” Although the first holiday collection, December Makes Me Feel This Way, arrived in 1997 without charting, The Dance in 1999 climbed to number two on the Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and number three on the Jazz Albums chart. He followed with the September 2001 release A Smooth Jazz Christmas, which reached number three on the Jazz Albums chart. Saxophonic later peaked at number two on the Jazz Albums listing. The non-charting 2005 project Golden Slumbers: A Father’s Love coincided with the start of his annual Dave Koz & Friends Jazz Cruises. In 2007 he contributed “Just in Time” with Dean Martin’s vocals to the EMI tribute Forever Cool, and the platinum-certified At the Movies, featuring cinematic themes, rose to number two on the Jazz Albums chart—his final new EMI release.

He moved to Concord for 2010’s Hello Tomorrow, produced by John Burk and Marcus Miller, which included his vocal version of the Herb Alpert/Burt Bacharach song “This Guy’s in Love with You”; the track entered the Top 40 on the Dance Club Songs chart and topped the Jazz Albums chart. Live albums Live at Soho and Live at the Blue Note Tokyo appeared in 2011 and 2012. In June 2013 he issued the studio album Summer Horns under the Dave Koz & Friends banner, recorded with saxophonists Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair, and Richard Elliot and featuring guest spots from Michael McDonald, Brian Culbertson, Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler, and Jeffrey Osborne. The repertoire drew from 1960s and 1970s horn-driven R&B, covering material by Sly & the Family Stone, Earth Wind & Fire, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Tower of Power. The 2015 career-spanning collection Collaborations: 25th Anniversary Collection reached number one on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. In 2017 he collaborated with pianist David Benoit, trumpeter Rick Braun, and acoustic guitarist Peter White on the holiday album Dave Koz & Friends: 20th Anniversary Christmas. The following year brought Summer Horns II: From A to Z with Albright, Elliot, Rick Braun, and Aubrey Logan plus vocalists Jonathan Butler, Kenny Lattimore, and Sheléa; the set spanned horn-driven R&B, jazz, funk, and hip-hop while interpreting songs by Earth Wind & Fire, the Crusaders, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Jay-Z, and others. His twentieth studio album, the 2020 release A New Day comprising original material after a decade, peaked at number two on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and led to the 2021 collaboration Golden Hour with guitarist Cory Wong. The 2022 holiday project Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Ballads 25th Anniversary Collection documented his enduring Christmas tour and included appearances by Peter White, Rick Braun, and David Benoit.