“I was waiting for that call for sooooooo long,” Koz said.
The request finally came in 2016 when Grohl asked Koz to play on the track “La Dee Da” on the band’s 2017 album, “Concrete and Gold.” would ever have need for a saxophone player. He’s proudly watched his godson and his band take over the world with rock music, but was quietly wondering when Grohl & Co.
The pair have known each other for a long time and Grohl didn’t grow up with a godfather, so about a decade ago the honor was bestowed upon Koz. Though Koz, 56, is only six years older than Foo Fighters vocalist-guitarist Dave Grohl, he is his unofficial godfather. “It’s my parents and me and it’s backstage right behind the bowl and I can see on their faces that it was a very proud moment for them and it was a very proud moment for me, too,” he said. Koz said he still has a very special photograph stashed away from his first-ever Hollywood Bowl performance. “When you are on your way to the stage, you see all of these photographs of iconic artists that have taken the stage before you and they’re almost looking at you in those pictures and saying ‘You better come with it because this is the Hollywood Bowl and you remember that!’” “That venue is so special to me,” he said, noting he’s easily played there over a dozen times. Not because he doesn’t enjoy playing in front of 17,000 adoring fans in an iconic venue, but it’s always a pressure cooker situation for him that he takes very seriously. Koz said his favorite part about playing a gig at the Hollywood Bowl is leaving the stage. It was a blueprint moment at the Hollywood Bowl that was like ‘OK, I like this.’ That feeling stays with you forever because your eyes and everything just opens up wide and it was like, ‘Wow, this really feels good.’” I went out there and played my entire solo and the crowd went crazy and in that moment something solidified in me. “I was like ‘Really? But this is your show?’ He said ‘No, go do it!” He gave me an inch and I took a mile. “I had a long, extended sax solo and he said to me ‘Why don’t you take your wireless mic and just run up and down the aisles in the audience and play your solo from the crowd?’” he recalled. Lorber encouraged Koz to break out of his shell a little bit that night. Things to do in the San Fernando Valley, LA area, Jan. More than 60% of Coachella 2022’s artists were on the lineup for the 2020 festivalģ things to know about indie pop rockers the Lilys before the band’s Southern California shows Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’ celebrates his Compton roots with new musicįirst all-female Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp will feature Melissa Etheridge, Heart, Go-Gos members “Not only did I play in his band, but he was the first person to say to me ‘I think you can be an artist yourself.’ He noticed something in me that I didn’t know was there and nurtured that along.” “If there was one person that I could say I owe it all to, it would be him,” Koz said. The very first time he played the venue was during the long-running Playboy Jazz Festival in 1986 as a featured artist with keyboardist and composer Jeff Lorber.
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, Koz said his parents would take him, his brother and his sister to the Hollywood Bowl for classical music concerts during the summer. Koz has had a lifelong love affair with the Hollywood Bowl Here are five things you may not have known about Dave Koz. While we had him on the line, we covered pretty much everything from his favorite candy to memorable radio interviews and being the “godfather” to a super famous rock musician. 18 and Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Dec. 14-15 and he’s bringing the Dave Koz & Friends annual Christmas Tour to McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert on Dec. While Koz is focusing on promoting the summer gig at the Hollywood Bowl, he’s also coming back later in the year with a pair of shows at the Thornton Winery in Temecula Sept.