DECEMBER 12 • 2024 | 53
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wasn’t part of my family I was very
intrigued by Christmas, and I always
loved the experience. I loved going to
my friends’ houses for Christmas. I
loved the big dinners, the trees. I loved
watching everybody open presents.
”
Koz’s family, meanwhile, shared that
“genuine love for the holiday season —
and for the music. My parents were big
Great American Songbook fans. Their

favorite singers were Dean Martin
and Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald,
and people like that. When you talk
about Christmas music, those are the
biggest names you always come back
to — the Bing Crosbys and Sammy
Davis Jr. That music was always in my
consciousness.
”

DAD’S DEATH SPARKS
CONCERT
And it was the death of Koz’s father, a
dermatologist (his mother was a phar-
macist), that steered him toward the
idea of a holiday concert in 1997.
“The whole idea for a Christmas
tour happened when my dad passed,
”
Koz says. “(Pianist) David Benoit and I
were talking on the phone one day — I
was interviewing him for my radio
show. He had just lost his mom. I had
just lost my dad. They had both passed
very suddenly, and young, and that
experience really rattled both of us. It
was (Benoit’s) idea; ‘Let’s go out at hol-
iday time and make music for our par-
ents. It’s a great way to have something

to do, and we can also use it as therapy
for ourselves.
’
“The DNA of this tour was always
in family. It’s a way to honor our own
families using holiday music.
”
Koz recalls that none of the dozen
tours that first year were well attended,
“but it was a good show” and con-
vinced him to try again the following
year and, over time “it really started to
build on itself and people started com-
ing and ... now it’s a holiday tradition.
I always meet people who tell me they
come every year, which is so special
and rewarding.
”
Koz has also kept the show fresh
with a revolving cast of musicians;
Benoit has come in and out of the
lineup, while singer-guitarist Jonathan
Butler has been a mainstay. Detroit-
born guitarist Randy Jacobs — of Was
(Not Was) and now leading his own
Boneshakers — is Koz’s longtime musi-
cal director.
“Every year the show changes and
morphs and we have different cast
members, which keeps it interesting

for all of us,
” he acknowledges. This
year’s lineup includes returning vocalist
Rebecca Jade and two newcomers, sax-
ophonist Vincent Ingala and guitarist
Adam Hawley.
Koz plans to include Chanukah
music in his show this year, even
though the festival starts two nights
after the tour ends in Modesto, Calif.
“People have come to expect that in the
shows now — we’re equal opportunity,
”
he reports. And Koz will certainly still
have family in mind as he performs
throughout the season.
“Y’know, I do wonder about my
grandparents from the grave, whether
they’re looking at me kind of funny,
” he
says. “There is a religious component
to the show; when a guy like Jonathan
Butler sings ‘O Holy Night,
’ you can
hear a pin drop. But I hope when
people exit the show after seeing it,
especially after multiple years, it’s really
about a feeling of togetherness, unity,
kindness, generosity of spirit. That’s
what we’re trying to create more than
anything else.
”

Koz during a
performance.

JACK COHEN

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