DECEMBER 12 • 2024 | 53
J
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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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