Dave Koz Talks

By: Keivu G. Knox Last year, Dave Koz celebrated his 30th anniversary in the music business. His career has spanned not just music, but television and movies. Recently he released a genre-defining collaboration project entitled The Golden Hour, with guitarist Cory Wong. Recently, he sat down with us to discuss his career, his life, and his return to touring

SJM: How’s everything going in your world Dave? Dave: Well, I came back from Mexico and taking care of things at home. California is opening up so it ’s good to get some normalcy back. SJM: As we are on the “other side” of the pandemic and looking at our “new normal” are there any lasting impressions or takeaways from it that you carry with you today? Dave: Well, I realized how important music is to our overall human wellbeing, especially given the realities of the pandemic that we've all experience. Music really helped me through it, and I know that was an interesting time for me because I ended up being very, very creative. During this time period I made two albums in the pandemic. I normally don’t make albums that quickly. But I realized how important music was, to me. When the pandemic started, I went immediately to my feel good musical heroes because in that music where I found comfort. I know during that time my music was comfort for others and it made me proud. And now as we're about ready to kind of resume our lives, I’m reevaluating everything with through a different lens that I didn't necessarily look at before. 26| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… JulJAug

SJM: During the pandemic you also performed concerts via live streaming. How was it to perform without an audience? Dave: We did four or five livestream concerts and it's a strange thing because music is such a celebratory thing especially the music that I make, but to get to the end and have silence is the weirdest thing. You realize how important applause is. By the same token, knowing that people were watching in the comfort of their home and feeling safe, and yet still being able to be supportive of the music, that felt really good. One of my favorite things to do throughout the pandemic is to read the comments after the shows. That was a form of applause for me, and I think we came across a new way to appreciate music in the future. People may not want to go out and spend money on a night out, but may feel more comfortable with watching from their home.

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SJM: Switching gears a little bit, congratulations music business. When you released your first remember any goals you had? Dave: It’s still a mystery to me that I’ve been in over 30 years. Honestly, this was not some I went to college as a mass communications major, and it wasn’t until I met a few people who saw something in me, did that change. Jeff Lorber helped me to get my demos out and get signed to Capitol Records. My only goal at the time was just to sell enough records and to be able to make another one! (laughs) SJM: Did you ever notice the moment when you realized you were no longer an up and coming artist, but an artist that people wanted to collaborate with? on your 30th anniversary in the album, do you the business for

Dave: There is an author named Malcolm Gladwell who has written a lot of very successful books. There's one concept that's very well known that he came up with, which was the concept of 10,000 hours. It basically states if you do something consistently for that many years, or hours in his case, at that point you're just known in the world. About 15 years into my career I remember that feeling of like one day, it felt like nobody knew who I was. And then the next day, everyone knew me from music, or TV or magazines. It was pretty surreal. It’s based on the feelings that I have been able to give people. It’s similar to the way that I feel about certain artists when I hear their name, it's not so much specifics that come to mind but it's a feeling, it's like a feeling inside your body that you resonate with when you hear the name, Stevie Wonder, for example. That's been the most important thing for me is to create, I mean obviously I'm not going to be Stevie Wonder, but I can continue to release music and do radio shows and cruises and tours, keeping a very consistent thread that runs through all of that so that when people would say my name, then it would elicit this nice feeling inside. That has been, and will continue to be my goal. SJM: Speaking of that, you do have a lot of things on your plate. How do you manage it all? What is the secret to balancing it? Dave: Well I think it's at my core. I probably suffer from ADHD (laughs) if I was just doing one thing I'd probably go crazy because I really enjoy the variety of showing up in different ways. I think the key is, for me is, is delegating to people that I really trust and believe in. I’ve had the same people work with me on the cruise for many years, and I’ve

years I've been very fortunate to develop really great relationships with these team members that I think have my back. Therefore I trust them, and allows me the ability to kind of go from one thing to the next, and know that when I'm not overseeing it I don't have to micromanage it. SJM: So for your latest project, you worked with Cory Wong. Tell us about how that relationship started. Dave: So about three years ago, I started getting messages from his fans and when I did my research I found that he was going on tour with a green screen, projecting images of me on our cruises. He was trying to figure out ways to contact me and ultimately get on the cruise! So I reached out to him and we had dinner in LA and I realized that he really has a heart for music and creativity. We created a plan where I ultimately would give him what his calls the “Koz nod” and I would endorse him, in a sense. It really has been a great musical relationship, because he’s a younger guy with so many ideas that I may never had tried, and it gives me a different out- look on the industry and how things are going. So as a result we decided to do a record together. It got postponed a few times last year because of the pan- demic, but late last year we all got together in Min- nesota, as that’s where Corey is from, masked up, and did the record, and I’m really proud of what we were able to accomplish. Usually in those situations it’s assumed that the younger guy is only learning from the older guy, but I can tell you that I am learning so much by working with Cory, from social media to digital, to how younger people appreciate music. SJM: A couple of weeks ago, the two of you performed the album in its entirety on a boat in Minnesota. Performing albums is something that artists are doing more Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 29

lately. Is there a particular album you would perform live on tour? Dave: I actually haven't thought about doing that. That’s a great question. I probably would do “The Dance, ” since we had so many big radio singles from that one. It has memories for me, because it was released in 1999, and if you remember, there was so much uncertainty in the world at that time, heading into the year 2000. I recorded it with the hopes of giving people an ability to be calm, so that one is a very personal record for me. SJM: Speaking of “ The Dance,” there’s a version of “ Together Again” on the new album that sounds nothing like the original. How did that come about? Dave: It’s a funny story actually. It was a show in New York, and it was sold out. He asked me to come on stage with him and perform. We would do that from time to time so that was nothing new. So after I performed I was about to leave the stage. He asks me to stay because we have one more song to play. I’m like “uh, we rehearsed specific songs so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” So Cory says he has a surprise for me, and his band goes into my version of “ Together Again,” note for note just like I play it. So that kind of stuck in my head. Especially the arrangement, it had a different feel even though the notes were the same. So when we were putting this album together, I mentioned that I thought we could do a version of Together Again, but the rhythm section made it so different. Michael Nelson wrote an incredible horn arrangement and it was really fun to play and record. It’s a favorite of mine and I’ve played it so much, but to play it this way, the way it ’s on the album, is even more fun for me. As an artist if we're lucky, we’ll have one song that people want to hear us play. When you play that song year after year, tour after tour, it’s hard to keep it fresh, but this version we put together, definitely does that. SJM: Tell us about the title track, it has some Earth, Wind and Fire vibes to it.

Dave: That was one of the first songs we wrote together. Cory and I, and it's kind of a funny, quirky melody. But then when it was arranged for the rhythm section and for the horn section, it totally took shape to me. It's like a mix of Earth Wind and Fire and Tower of Power horns for me. It has warmth to it, and while at first we didn’t call it “ The Golden Hour ” the name just came to us. In a sense it just reminded me of that time period. In a microcosm, it really represents where the meeting of me and Cory came together. When you think about the golden hour it's this magical time of day, and it's not really day, but it's not really night either, but it’s on the edge. I think for both Corey and I, this project was putting us on in that edge where it's sort of like at the very outskirts of our musical creativity. And that song, sort of, was the way that it kind of encapsulated that feeling best to us so that's why we called it “ The Golden Hour ” and it became the title track. SJM: What you just said brings up this question, and it ’s one that I’ve always wanted to ask you ever since I heard “You Make Me Smile.” Do you typically come up with the name of the song after completing the song, or is it that you sometimes have this title in mind and you craft a song around the title, or a little bit of both? Dave: I think, in my experience, when writing, the song comes, and usually I have a working title. It can be a very basic working title like, “Song Number One,” for example. But in the end, when you listen to it over and over, it sort of reveals itself to you. You brought up, “You Make Me Smile” and that was a song that I was working on with my brother. At the same time, our sister was pregnant with her first child. The day that we were writing that song was the day that my sister gave birth to our first niece. We left the writing session to go meet our niece, and then we came back, and named that song “You Make Me Smile” because we were so happy. It was like a real world experience that sort of came into our songwriting Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 31

process. That's the whole concept of the song but with instrumental music, one of the beautiful things is that when you listen to it, it can mean one thing to one person and another thing to another person. I love the fact that I’m able to have that sort of blank canvas with my music so that it can mean different things to different people. That is awesome. SJM: Talking about collaborations, If you were able to collaborate with any artist, who would it be and what song would you cover? Dave: Wow! That’s a mean question (laughs), I really have been very fortunate to collaborate with some of the superstars in my life. People like Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart and Celine Dion and Stevie Nicks. I think, one that comes to mind would be to work with Sting, and to do a sax version of fragile but with him playing guitar on it. That would be pretty amazing. I love Elton John. I've met him before, but I've never collaborated with him, but the guy writes melodies that are so perfect for the saxophone. SJM: What's next for you? Dave: We are going out next month in July to start our Summer Horns tour. We are definitely excited about it and we have a great lineup. Kirk Whalum, Mindi Abair, Vincent Ingala and myself, and on certain stops, we’ll have Kenny Lattimore as a guest. It’s going to be really fun. The musicians so excited to be able to play get in front of people. As you said earlier, we've had to play songs in front of nobody for a long time so I’m really looking forward to that. And then hopefully we'll be able to have our Christmas tour this year as well. This will be our 24th year doing the tour and we feel that the

SJM: Speaking of Christmas my wife is a big Hallmark fan, and she informed me that you were in a Christmas movie for them a few years back, called “Sharing Christmas.” What was that experience like? Dave: I’ve been on TV a few times over the years, playing myself and playing music, and I’m comfortable with that. However, “Sharing Christmas” was really an interesting thing with having to be written into the script in a movie like that. It blew me away. And I remember the day that we filmed that it was in Salt Lake City at this jazz club and I was a nervous wreck. I know that’s not my thing but they made me feel comfortable and were very nice to me. I loved the experience and it made me realize that a lot of people watch that channel for Christmas; probably the entire country! I was more nervous for that than anything else I’ve ever done. SJM: Last question: What is one thing that people may not know about you or will be surprised to know about to whether it's a hobby or maybe something that you picked up in the pandemic? Dave: Well, I learned this from my dad and I didn't understand it when he was alive. But somehow when he passed, he posthumously passed on a passion to me that now is the one surefire way that I can relax. I lead a pretty crazy life with a lot of things coming at me, but when I truly need to relax, nothing does it for me better than sitting down with a crossword puzzle. I don’t do them online. For me, having the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning, that's my definition of nirvana. SJM: That is a fun fact! Thank you so much Dave, stay safe and see you on the road soon! Dave: Thank you it was my pleasure!