 |
| Dave Koz
Concord Records |
After twenty years of sold out Christmas tours and five holiday albums, saxophonist Dave Koz has reassembled his original holiday lineup – pianist David Benoit, trumpeter Rick Braun and acoustic guitarist Peter White – for the making of Dave Koz and Friends 20th Anniversary Christmas, an album that features brand new recordings of classic Christmas songs.
The September 29, 2017, release of Dave Koz and Friends 20th Anniversary Christmas on Concord Records sets the stage for Koz and this same lineup to go back on the road in late November for the 2017 holiday season. The tour will kick off on November 24 in Atlanta, Georgia and wraps up on December 23 in Cerritos, California.
“If you had asked me twenty years ago, I would never in a million years believed that we’d be doing Christmas tours two decades later,” says Koz in a statement. “But here we are, still doing it, and it’s going as strong as ever! So with twenty years under our belts, it seemed like a great reason to celebrate, and that’s why we decided to include the original cast of our Christmas tour. It’s our chance to go back to the very beginning and celebrate the relationships that this whole journey was built on.”
Additionally, in the spirit of coming together and giving to those in need, Dave Koz has teamed up with The Salvation Army to help hurricane survivors within the specific LGBTQ communities by donating proceeds from the aforementioned. The Salvation Army’s mission is to serve people in need without discrimination and will use the gift to provide practical emergency relief and long-term recovery to hurricane survivors in partnership with and by referral from LGBTQ advocacy and service organizations in the disaster-affected areas.
In addition of Koz, Benoit, Braun and White, Dave Koz and Friends 20th Anniversary Christmas also includes a lineup of guest vocalists: Selina Albright, Javier Colon, Kenny Lattimore, Gabriel Orengo and Jeffrey Osborne. In addition, several of the tracks are enhanced by the West European Symphony Orchestra.
Album highlights include; Orengo brings his expressive vocals to the Jose Feliciano classic “Feliz Navidad.” Koz calls the arrangement “a completely novel way of interpreting the song. Gabriel does this sort of Bruno Mars type of vocal delivery that’s so expressive and so in the moment. Selina Albright’s heartfelt vocals bring a retro sensibility to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” but at the same time, “she has all the dexterity of a modern pop singer,” says Koz. “She takes it to another level, but never overdoes it. Her version sounds so true to what the song is all about.” “O Tannenbaum,” one of Koz’s all-time favorites, creates an opportunity for plenty of interplay between himself and his three bandmates. “At the end of the track, there’s a musical conversation that came about organically.
Indeed, home for Koz and his band mates is any place where they feel a positive connection. It may be in your town, or even in your living room. “Oftentimes,” he says, “because we’ve been going back to some of the same venues over the course of twenty years for the Christmas tour, these places feel like our home – even if it’s just for two hours in one night in December. Likewise, the songs on Dave Koz and Friends 20th Anniversary Christmas are all very important to those of us who recorded them. We’ve poured a lot of love and care into each song, and hope fans are filled with warmth, kindness and Christmas Spirit.”
Dave Koz’s Christmas store features exclusive items to celebrate the 20th Anniversary Christmas album, including signed CDs, socks and a 7” picture vinyl where fans can get a personal Happy Holidays intro from Dave. More here: http://found.ee/DK_20thChristmasWebstore-j
For more information on the Christmas album and tour: http://davekoz.com/
