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Smooth collaboration
Saxophonist Dave Koz and others bring the Smooth Jazz Summer Camp back for another session.
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 13, 2002
Smooth Jazz Summer Camp, a.k.a. the "Smooth Summer Night" concert trek by Dave Koz and Friends, was so much fun, and, presumably, so successful last year that the headliner decided to stage a sequel.
Koz, the big-selling saxophonist and Southern California radio show host, will again be joined by fellow smooth-jazz favorites Norman Brown (guitar) and Brian Culbertson (keyboards) for the tour, which stops at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Saturday and Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on Sunday.
The new camper this time out: James Ingram, the contemporary R&B singer best known for Top 10 hits Just Once, One Hundred Ways and, with Patti Austin, How Do You Keep the Music Playing.
Koz talks about the tour as enthusiastically as a kid going off to the more traditional kind of summer camp.
"There's a lot of camaraderie," Koz says by telephone, taking a break from rehearsing in Los Angeles. "I've really enjoyed the process of working with other artists. That's what really excites me about music. With this kind of music, a lot of friendship and a lot of collaboration comes very naturally."
The tour preparations were a hint of the musical interaction and bonhomie to come on the road, he says.
"We have a total of about nine days (to rehearse), and a lot of music to learn -- 25 songs to go over," Koz says. "It's a pretty serious group of songs. Four artists each come with their own set. We all share one band, so we go over all of it together."
Koz is no stranger to the art of collaboration, having headlined a multi-artist Smooth Jazz Christmas tour since the mid '90s. He released a related disc last year. The saxophonist's most recent studio recording, 1999's The Dance, included guests such as Luther Vandross, Montell Jordan, Burt Bacharach and guitarists Jonathan Butler and Marc Antoine. That album was the second Koz disc to stay on Billboard contemporary jazz charts for more than 100 weeks.
Koz, once a regular on TV's old The Arsenio Hall Show, has teamed up with vocalists since an early-career stint with Richard Marx. Since then, he has worked with Phil Perry, Stevie Nicks, Was (Not Was) singers Sir Harry Bowens and Sweet Pea Atkinson, Kenny Loggins and Brenda Russell, all of whom appeared on various Koz albums. Koz also has recorded with U2, Celine Dion, Julio Iglesias and Natalie Cole.
"I love playing melodies on sax but I realize that's not all the music is," he says. "I love being a supportive voice. The saxophone is an incredible communicator as an instrument, but there's no way to get lyrics out of it. To communicate on another level, vocal music is always something that I've wanted to be a part of."
Koz, host of a long-running music and interview show carried on more than 120 radio stations around the world, last year took over as host of the morning show on KTWV-FM, The Wave, in Los Angeles.
This fall, he embarks on yet another endeavor, as co-owner of a label that will be distributed by Warner Bros.
Golden Slumbers: a Father's Lullaby, will be the first release on the yet unnamed label. A five-song sampler from the new CD, featuring recordings by Koz, Brown, Culbertson and Koz's brother Jeff, will be available at the summer shows. The disc's birth was inspired by that of Koz's niece.
"It was a true labor of love, started with my brother and his wife. My sister-in-law was trying to find music to put her (the child) to bed. It's about beautiful, meditative lullabies. It's also good if you feel really stressed, and just need to chill."
That description isn't far removed from a frequent criticism of smooth jazz, that it's background music, best used to cure insomnia.
"I think that there's some songs in the genre that are definitely more mellow, but anyone who's been to a (smooth-jazz) concert realizes that this is not sleepy music," Koz responds. "This can be very high-energy music."
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PREVIEW: Dave Koz and Friends, with James Ingram, Norman Brown and Brian Culbertson; 8 p.m. Saturday, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. $32.75-$60. Call (727) 791-7400 or 1-800-875-8682. Also 8 p.m. Sunday, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota. $29-$43. Call 1-800-826-9303.
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