“Hello Tomorrow” is an appropriate title for the latest album by Dave Koz.
After 20 years, a dozen albums on a major label (Capitol Records), his own national radio show, numerous TV appearances and a steady global touring schedule, the out saxophonist has entered a new chapter in his successful career.
“Hello Tomorrow,” which promptly debuted at the top of Billboard’s and iTune’s jazz charts when it was released in October, is Koz’s first album on his new label, Concord Records. For the writing and recording of his new record, Koz called upon a long and diverse list of guest-star musicians to perform, including Herb Alpert, Sheila E., Boney James, Keb’ Mo’, Ray Parker Jr., Lee Ritenour and Christian Scott.
With a pre-Valentine’s Day performance in Philadelphia on the horizon, Koz talked to PGN about his new album and the new realities of the music business.
PGN: From an artistic standpoint, was it harder to work with all of these different guest musicians on this project than working with the same studio musicians throughout? DK: For me, I’m kind of a born collaborator. It’s something that I love to do and have loved to do. But sometimes in the writing process, and that was the case on this project for sure, guests help realize a song to its fullest potential when you’re writing. We would say on one song, “Wow, wouldn’t it be great if we got someone like Boney James” — which is one of my sax friends and a great musician — “Wouldn’t it be great if he came and played the other part on this sax duet.” You almost end up writing for him in the hopes that he’ll do it. And when the song is done, in a sense you end up casting and you throw out your net and all of a sudden Boney says, “Yes, I’d love to do it.” The next thing you know, you’re in the studio with him. That’s kind of the way it happened on a lot of these [songs] with Jonathan Butler, Keb’ Mo’, Herb Alpert — some of these wonderful musicians that I’d always wanted to play with.
PGN: Where there any guest artists that you wanted to work with on this album that you couldn’t get? DK: There were certainly people that we couldn’t get. That was more associated with timing than anything else. That really didn’t happen too much with this project. When I made the “At the Movies” project, which was going back a couple years, I had so many dreams of making music with this person or that person. Who was finally on that album was crazy great. But we went through a lot of different machinations of going to people and saying, “What about this, what about that?” What I found out was, when you’re talking about classics — that was all movie songs with an orchestra — artists have particular feelings about remaking classics. It’s very different than when they’re doing something brand new that’s never been done before on an original piece of music. But on this project we didn’t have too many problems with that.
PGN: This is the first album for your new label, Concord Records, correct? DK: Yes. It’s owned by one of my good friends and hero in life, Norman Lear. We’ve been good friends for a good chunk of time. It was transition time and they kind of opened their arms up and I was happy to fly into them.
PGN: Do jazz musicians face the same pressures in the music business that pop and rock artists face? DK: We’re having to rewrite the rules of our business and the problem is that there doesn’t seem to be any agreement about what our business is right now. It’s totally in flux. I’ve been doing this for a long time and the music business has changed. It’s basically unrecognizable to the way it was when I started. It’s unrecognizable from four years ago. So I think every day the rules keep getting rewritten. So the way I can describe it to you now is that it seems like there are two music businesses: There’s the one that operates in the Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga world — that kind of world where it’s just massive pop music where everything is swinging for the fences. They go for the home runs and they just milk it for as long as they can and that’s it. Maybe there’s a second or third album but the kind of concept that I grew up with, which was long-term artist development, doesn’t really seem to be the way that business works. That’s 90 percent of the music business now. The other 10 percent is the niche-music business, which is jazz, blues, classical and folk. All these niche formats are duking it out for the scraps that are left over. It is to me two very distinct businesses. The irony is that I think the coolest music being made is in that other 10 percent.
PGN: Is it rare for a jazz musician like yourself to have performed and had success on both the pop and the jazz ends of the music business? DK: I don’t really refer to myself as a jazz musician. I’m just a musician. I play saxophone. That’s who I am, a saxophonist. I love it all. I came up in a time when you didn’t have to stay in one lane. You could move across. Now the lines are being blurred even more. The people that have the talent they want to share, it’s a beautiful thing to be able to share it across the board, to not have to do just one thing. I kind of have ADD musically. I get bored with doing just one thing. I like to be all over the map. Maybe in some ways that has held me back and in some ways it’s pushed me forward. I love collaborating with people and getting out of my comfort zone.
PGN: Do you feel like younger generations of musicians aren’t as willing to take chances and venture into different genres of music? DK: I’m finding right now that we’re living in an “American Idol” world, which is sort of strange. It’s a tremendous focus on vocals and not so much the craft of honing things. If you’re a singer, great. If you’re an instrumentalist, whatever. I think that younger people are more focused on the fame aspect than actually putting the time and hours in to hone the craft of it. That worries me a little bit about the musicians and the music they’re going to make in the future. At the same time, our business is completely in flux and nobody knows where it’s going. Music has been devalued by people. When I grew up I would go to the record store, when they had record stores, and I’d buy an album and I would listen to that and that would be the only thing I would do in my spare time for that week. Now I watch my nieces and I watch how they consume their music — and it’s there, thankfully — but the way that they use it is different than the way my generation used it. It’s not something they pay a lot of attention to, but at least for the time being it’s still there, which makes me happy.
PGN: Will you be doing anything special for your pre-Valentine’s performance in Philadelphia? DK: We’ll be doing some special romantic music. The saxophone by its very nature can be a romantic instrument. That’s the reason I love playing it so much. It can be the most melancholy instrument to the most happy and everything in between. Whatever you put into it, it reflects. So for a romantic night, a lot of people will be out and about, so it will be a very special concert.
PGN: Would you rather be performing on Valentine’s Day or spending it with your significant other? DK: You’re talking about a guy that has gone out every Christmas season for a whole month playing Christmas music as opposed to being with his family. I like to work. This year, I do have a valentine. I haven’t had one for the last few years but this year I do. I would be excited to be with him but it doesn’t have to be that day. As long as I have a nice night, Valentine’s Day can certainly be any day. It doesn’t have to be the 14th.
Dave Koz performs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave. For more information or tickets, visit www.davekoz.com or call 215-572-7650.