The
holidays have always been about bringing close friends together and celebrating
the season with good times and great music. Saxophonist Dave Koz has been doing
it every year for nearly two decades with talented friends and collaborators on
a tour that brings the yuletide spirit to devoted audiences from one coast to
the other.
Koz
brings that same collaborative spirit to his new holiday recording, The 25th of
December, scheduled for release on September 30, 2014 on Concord Records. The album features duets with some of the
most prominent pop and jazz artists of the last several decades, including
Johnny Mathis, Eric Benét, Gloria Estefan, Heather Headley, Richard Marx, Kenny
G, BeBe Winans, India.Arie, Trombone Shorty, Jonathan Butler, Fantasia and
Stevie Wonder.
“Christmas
songs already have, inherently, in their DNA, all the things you want in a
piece of music,” says Koz. “Why do we want to hear these same songs year after
year? Because they’re more than just lyrics or notes on a page. They’re
touchstones. They are musical doorways that enable us to go back and visit
times in our lives that were much simpler and much more innocent.”
The
challenge for Koz and his guests was how to mix it up on The 25th of December
and provide something for everyone. “We wanted to have a good chunk of
traditional Christmas songs that everybody knows,” he says, “and then a handful
of newer Christmas songs that maybe not everybody knows, but have become
popular in the last few years. And then it was important to me as an artist to
say, ‘Here are a couple songs that you’ve never heard before that we’re going
to throw into the mix.’”
The
result is a diverse and satisfying holiday set, beginning with the very first
notes of a fully orchestrated instrumental rendition of “The First Noel,” a
song that Koz had never recorded for any previous holiday album, but one that
he considers a personal favorite. “In my mind, it was a way to get the party
started with something that everybody knows. It’s a beautiful arrangement by
Lenny Wee.”
The
follow-up track features the legendary Johnny Mathis in an upbeat
interpretation of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” one of his
signature holiday tunes. “Johnny’s original version of the song is iconic,”
says Koz. “So I was a little concerned about going to him and saying, ‘Would
you mind recreating a song that you’ve already made famous the world over?’ And
he said, ‘I’d love to.’ Being in the studio with him that day was one of the
greatest days of my career. It all came together organically. We did it with
Billy Childs on piano, Chuck Berghofer on bass and Clayton Cameron on drums. I
played, Johnny sang, and there it was.”
Things
take a slow, sultry turn with “This Christmas,” the R&B holiday classic delivered
here by vocalist Eric Benét. “I’ve known Eric for more than 20 years. He’s one
of my favorite singers. We had this idea of taking this great Christmas song by
Donny Hathaway and really taking the tempo down to make it a slow jam. I knew
when Eric was in the studio that he would want to make it a sexy Christmas
song. The groove is deep, and I put a little alto saxophone in there. It’s
pretty romantic. You know exactly what’s on the singer’s mind when Eric
delivers this song.”
Gloria
Estefan steps in for a rhythmic reading of “Do you Hear What I Hear?” “Rickey
Minor, our producer, said, “Why don’t we give it this beat with a lot of
drums?’” recalls Koz. “I think he was tapping into what we all know Gloria does
best. We got her the arrangement, she loved it, and she turned in a fabulous
vocal.”
“My
Grown Up Christmas List” is especially meaningful for Tony Award-winning
vocalist Heather Headley, who recorded the track when she was eight months
pregnant. “This is one of the songs that’s not as well known as some of the
more traditional Christmas songs on the album,” says Koz. “It was written
several years ago by David Foster and Linda Thompson. I’d never cut it, but I
loved the message of it. We sent it to Heather, and she said, ‘I’m on this. And
by the way, I’m pregnant, so this is something I can really relate to. This
song is about my wishes for the world that my baby will grow up in.’”
The
poignant “Another Silent Night,” featuring Richard Marx (who also co-wrote the
song with Koz and Trey Bruce and arranged the track), is one of two new songs
written for this album. “Richard has that pure, crystal-clear voice,” says Koz.
“I can really relate to that song, because it’s about a guy who’s not at home
with his family during the holidays, but he really wants to be there.”
The
fully orchestrated “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” is a sax summit
that features Kenny G, no stranger to successful holiday recordings. “Kenny is
a good friend, and we’ve known each other for many years, but we’d never recorded
together,” says Koz. “So this track is something of a musical moment – a coming
together of two people who have played the saxophone for a very long time. This
was an opportunity for each of our musical identities to be well represented –
soprano sax for him, tenor sax for me – and yet we could meet in the middle and
play off each other. Kenny was very open to the concept of doing a big band
arrangement with a killer rhythm section and it was really fun.”
The
title track, written and sung by BeBe Winans, is the second of two songs
written especially for this album. “I think this is an absolutely gorgeous
piece of music,” he says. “The first time I heard the demo – just BeBe and
piano – I thought, ‘Oh my God, I know this song!’ It sounded like a classic
that we already knew. BeBe is a very devout man, and that comes across in the
song.”
India.Arie
sets up an old-school groove on “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” sung in the
spirit of Ella Fitzgerald, who had a hit with the same song decades ago. “This
is a classic, but it hasn’t been recorded all that often,” says Koz. “India was
really excited about doing an Ella Fitzgerald song. We put this very retro
track together, and I think she turned in one of her greatest vocal
performances ever.”
Part of
the song’s success stems from the groove set up by Koz on tenor sax in tandem
with Troy Andrews, the New Orleans native better known as Trombone Shorty.
“Ricky and I were thinking it would be great if we did this song this way, with
trombone and tenor,” says Koz. “So I texted Troy to see if he’d be willing to
do it. The next day, he texted me back and said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it. Send me the
track and the chart and I’ll play it, and do a solo.’ The next day after that,
I got it back and there it was. I played to what he did, and then India sang to
that. I think she was inspired by the sound, and I love her performance on it.”
The
stirring “O Holy Night” is a nod to the annual Dave Koz & Friends Christmas
tour. The track features Jonathan Butler, a regular fixture on tour who
consistently brings the house to its feet with his delivery of this song.
“There’s such a poignancy when this man delivers this very pure, very
transparent song,” says Koz. “But up until now, that arrangement had never been
recorded. So I went to Jonathan and said, ‘I really want you to be on this
album. I think it’s very important that we do this song, and I think it’s extra
important that you do the exact arrangement that we do in our show.’ He came
into the studio with his guitar, the band was all there, we cut it live and
what you hear on the album is his first take. This man owns this song.”
Fantasia
steps up for a high-energy, gospel-style medley that includes “O Come All Ye
Faithful”, “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
“We wanted to do something that was just go-get-em,” says Koz. “Jason White,
who is one of the keyboard players on this record but also a great arranger, is
the music director of the West Angeles Church, one of the most popular gospel
churches in Los Angeles. Fantasia just catapults it to another place through
sheer energy and emotion.”
Everyone
returns for the final track, a rousing version of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is
Love,” a song with a message especially resonant during the holidays. Leading
the charge is Stevie Wonder, who brings his trademark spontaneity and positive
energy to the track. “With Stevie, you never know what’s going to happen,” says
Koz. “He plays harmonica, and then he ends up singing the whole back half of
the song. There are very few people in life who can take the message of this
song and deliver on it, and he’s one of them.
Many of
the songs on The 25th of December will be a part of 2014 edition of the Dave
Koz & Friends Christmas tour, which will be announced shortly. Much like
the holiday tour – and the season itself – the album is a communal experience,
a moment in time when we reconnect with those people in our lives whom we care
about most.
"I
wanted this album to be like the best holiday party, to make listeners feel
like they had been invited to my house, along with all these phenomenally
talented artists," Koz says. "I pictured us all retiring to the
living room after dinner, where there's a big grand piano, and everybody got up
and did a song, and I played a little bit of saxophone with them. With this album, I wanted to reaffirm the
ties that bind us all."
