Dave Koz & Friends Bring Summer Horns Tour to the Santa Barbara Lobero

Instrumental jazz musician Dave Koz brings his tour Dave Koz & Friends: Summer Horns to Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre on Saturday, September 16. This summer alone, the nine-time Grammy nominee has graced stages around the world with his iconic style of summertime feel-good music. Now, for the last leg of his summer tour, Koz returns to where it all began.

“It’s hard to not have where you are and where you’re raised kind of seep into the music that you make,” Koz said. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Koz talked to me about growing up in Southern California, and its relationship to his musical journey. “I was dealing with being gay and not having an ability to get that out,” he said. “And so the saxophone just became the vehicle for me to express a lot of the things that I didn’t have words for.” This desire for expression would lead to the beginnings of a career as a musician, when after college Koz found a gig playing with musician Bobby Caldwell’s band in Los Angeles. “The next thing I knew, I was on the stage with him, and we were playing in front of the who’s who of L.A.” For Koz, this opened the door to the world of music.

Since his early gigs, Dave Koz has earned success, praise, and plenty of performance experience. He talked about the special experience of playing at the Hollywood Bowl — a venue Koz has enjoyed performing at ten times. “My mom and dad used to take my brother and sister and I to the Hollywood Bowl countless times when we were growing up,” he said. “I remember the first time that I ever played there. My mom and dad came, and it was a full circle experience.” For Koz, taking the stage at the Hollywood Bowl never gets old no matter how often he does it. “There’s only one feeling better, and that’s leaving the stage at the end,” he joked. “The whole week leading up to it, I was just a bag of nerves.”

Koz places so much importance on performances because, for him, the music comes to life playing live on stage. For this reason, Koz feels the labels of “smooth” or “contemporary jazz” misrepresent instrumental music, these descriptors being genres of polished radio music culture. “You know, most of the people who’ve been doing this for a long time, under the smooth jazz banner, are really incredible live performers who throw everything at the music to create these very exciting moments on stage.”

Eric Darius (left) and Candy Dulfer | Credit: Courtesy

For the 2023 tour of Summer Horns, Koz is joined by his band, which includes two additional saxophonists around which the concert is centered. Eric Darius, who recently released his album Breakin’ Thru, “represents a little bit more of the young influence of instrumentalists and saxophone players,” Koz said, juxtaposing him with the veteran performer Candy Dulfer. “She’s had worldwide hits, people all over the world know her,” said Koz. “When you get three people playing together with great arrangements and a killer band behind you, it’s just full of energy, it’s full of life.”

Dave Koz & Friends play at the Lobero Theatre on Saturday, September 16 at 8 p.m. For more information see lobero.org.