Saxophonist Dave Koz is bringing his sax and holiday spirit to Mesa

World-famous saxophonist Dave Koz started playing his instrument as a way to spend more time with his older brother in the '70s. At the time, Grand Funk Railroad was doing “The Loco-Motion,” while Blue Swede was “Hooked on a Feeling.” America was going through a musical change away from the folksy '60s and into its disco era; both genres were heavy on instrumentals — guitar in the former, brass in the latter. What a great time to learn an instrument in music class. That is what Dave Koz did.

Instead of mowing lawns for money, Koz’s older brother Jeff's band was getting paid for doing wedding gigs, bar mitzvahs and frat parties. Koz wanted to be a part of that.

“I was about three, almost four years younger than he. So there was pretty much no chance that I was gonna get in that band,” Koz says. “But I, as a younger brother might be known to do, drove my older brother crazy. And I picked up the saxophone because they didn't have a sax player and he finally relented and let me be in the band, and that's kind of how I got started.”

Koz will perform at Mesa Arts Center's Ikeda Theater on Wednesday, Dec. 18, for the "27th Annual Dave Koz and Friends Christmas Tour" with Jonathan Butler, Vincent Ingala, Adam Hawley and Rebecca Jade.

“I was always playing with people who were older and more experienced than me," he says about getting his start. “And it was really great to be able to cut my teeth on the saxophone that way. I mean, I had my first professional gig at 15. I never thought that this would be my life. It was really just fun and a way to make some money on the weekends. It’s been a really incredible magic carpet ride.”

As disco and funk were topping the Billboard charts in the 70s, a select group of instrumental artists began to creep up next to them. From the smooth stringed crescendo of "Love’s Theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra to the haunting chords of Mike Oldfield’s "Tubular Bells," instrumental music hadn’t flatlined. Maybe slightly influenced by this trend, Koz, a junior high school student at the time, went to class one day and was asked to pick an instrument. There was no question in his mind: He wanted the saxophone.

“When they opened up that cabinet with all the instruments — I remember it really well — I kind of made a beeline for the saxophone. and for the first year, at least I think, I used the school sax.” Once his parents saw that he was seriously invested, so were they.

“They bought me my first sax and I still have one of the saxophones that my dad bought me, which is really a prized saxophone for me, made in 1963,” he says. “It was built the same year that I was built.”

About a decade later music made another transition. Disco died and hair bands, R&B and British pop were now the standard. But in 1984, George Michael and Wham! included one of the most recognized sax solo intros in all of pop history for the ballad “Careless Whisper.” From there pop music would readily use the sax in composition, even igniting the career of saxophonist Kenny G.

Koz was also involved in that era. He started playing with pop-rocker Richard Marx in the '80s and toured with him into the early '90s before doing a stint on "The Arsenio Hall Show." But playing for Marx will always be a special time for Koz because he watched the birth of a music superstar.

“That was a great learning experience too because I was a member of his band before I had my own music out there and I watched him go from playing to 100 people a night to playing to 25,000 people a night on the same tour,” Koz recalls. “We do keep in touch. I see him every once in a while in Los Angeles and he's doing great. He's out there doing shows, still writing music and performing music.”

In the '90s music changed once again. Affectionally called New Age, specialty radio stations started using a format known as smooth jazz. It was a genre that blended the complexity of past instruments with an ethereal undertone. Perhaps no better example of this style is Koz’s “Faces of the Heart,” his 1993 updated theme song to the long-running daytime soap “General Hospital.”

Now 30 years later, with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a popular Hollywood restaurant and lounge and a prolific career that’s still going strong, Koz is coming to Mesa to perform in his annual Christmas tour. Some might wonder how Koz became affiliated with Christmas given his religious background.

“Well, nobody's more surprised than me that a nice Jewish boy from the San Fernando Valley has 27 years of Christmas tours and eight Christmas albums,” Koz chuckles. “So I'm very, very shocked by that when I think about it. I did grow up, Jewish and celebrating Hanukkah, but I used to sneak away to my friend's houses to trim the trees and have Christmas dinners, and I was surrounded by that music very early on and I love the music. I really love music and its ability to telegraph the feelings of the holiday.”

In the end, Koz is just happy that his music resonates with people. Time has proven that whatever the latest music trend, Christmas music will always be popular. It’s a genre that has survived through the ages and some consider it a yearly beacon of joy.

“People come every year and they bring their kids and their kids now bring their kids,” Koz says. “So it's Christmas and the holidays; it’s all about nostalgia to all. And the music is a huge part of it and I consider it a great honor and privilege that our show has become a tradition for a lot of people, a lot of families. So that is something very special to me.”

Dave Koz and Friends Christmas Tour 2024, Wednesday, December 18, Mesa Arts Center, One East Main Street
Mesa, Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $66 - $98. Visit the Mesa Arts Center's website to get tickets.