Dave Koz & Friends will spread holiday cheer all over Southern California
It’s Dave Koz’s name atop the marquee. Yet, the acclaimed saxophonist knows that he’s not the true star of the Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour.
“The star of the show is Christmas — the holidays,” says Koz, who splits his time between Sausalito and Southern California.
Koz and his tourmates are set to play eight shows in nine nights in California: Dec. 15-16 at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts; Dec. 18 at McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert; Dec. 19 at Balboa Theatre in San Diego; Dec. 20 at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa; Dec. 21 at the San Jose Civic; Dec. 22 at the Tower Theatre in Fresno; and the tour-closing show on Dec. 23 at the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto.
This year’s tour began in Atlanta on Nov. 24 — aka Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving — but Koz says the Christmas vibe from audiences just keeps getting stronger as the calendar approaches Dec. 25.
“It does — which is a good thing, because we tend to get very tired,” says Koz, who is touring in support of his eighth holiday album, “Christmas Ballads.” “We’re not only doing shows, but we’re moving every night, usually on the bus to the next city. So, we rely on the energy of the audiences. As the holiday nears, the audiences become more and more amped and more and more in the Christmas spirit.”
This is Koz’s 26th anniversary Christmas Tour, a remarkable tally that, quite simply, the saxophonist says he could have never seen coming prior to launching his first holiday road show back in the ‘90s.
“I would have never believed it in a million years,” he says. “First of all, I’m Jewish. Secondly, what do I know about Christmas? Except for the fact that I love Christmas music. I’ve always loved it.”
Koz’s passion for Christmas music stretches all the way back to the holiday seasons of his childhood years.
“We did celebrate Hanukkah a little bit,” Koz says of his family. “But the holidays weren’t big in my house growing up.
“So I would escape from my house and go to my friends’ houses for Christmas Eve dinners and trimming the tree and hearing the music and being so overwhelmed by the whole experience because it was so different from my family growing up.”
Later, as he matured as an artist and instrumentalist, Koz realize just how special — and inspiring — these Christmas classics are on a purely musical and compositional level.
“These songs are really good,” Koz says. “They are so meaty. You can push and pull them in so many different directions. And they hold up year to year.”
Koz has certainly lined up a solid group of Friends to do the pushing and pulling on the 2023 Christmas Tour.
“It’s going to be an amazing show,” he says. “We’ve got the anchor of (guitarist-vocalist) Jonathan Butler, who has been one of my great collaborators for years and years. But he was not there last year.”
There are also some fresh faces on the tour.
“We have three new artists who really, in each of their own individual ways, have taken the music — the world of contemporary jazz — and pushed it far forward,” Koz says.
One of them is Justin-Lee Schultz, who the bandleader excitedly describes as a “young 16-year-old prodigy phenom internet sensation.” The pianist/guitarist/vocalist has millions of followers online, but this is his first real tour, according to Koz.
“We’ve (also) got this wonderful saxophone player and flutist and dancer and singer named Marcus Anderson, who is one of the big young talents to watch in the jazz world,” Koz says. “Making a return visit is (vocalist) Rebecca Jade, who, in and of herself in the last year, has taken her own records and stardom to another whole new level.”
The five players will join together during their shows in California and try to make the season a little brighter for Christmas music fans. That’s especially important this year, Koz says, “when our world seems so upside down and it feels like people are wearing their emotions very close to the surface.”
“We’ve got a lot going on in our world — a lot of very complex, confusing issues,” he says. “I can tell you, for me personally, I need this. Because music has that sort of quality to heal in a way that other media doesn’t — to calm us and heal us and give us that inspiration we need.”
One of the biggest ongoing concerns, of course, is the situation in Israel and Palestine. The developments in that region brings added weight to this music in 2023, Koz says.
“The Christmas Story is probably even more poignant and more emotional this year than it’s ever been in our 26 years,” he says. “In my heart, I know this is the right thing to do — to get out there and bring this music to people.”
Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15-Saturday, Dec. 16
Where: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Cerritos
Tickets: $59-$103 at cerritoscenter.com
Also: 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18 at McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert. Sold-out; resale tickets start at $107 at vividseats.com. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19 at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., San Diego. $75-$237 at Ticketmaster.com.