Dave Koz & Friends

Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour 2024 - December 18, 2024 - Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour and Dave has certainly learned over the decades just exactly how to present a holiday concert that'll elate his fans as he proved with a stellar show in the Ikeda Theater at the Mesa Arts Center just one week before Christmas. Koz and his stellar lineup of guests --- guitarist and singer Jonathan Butler, sax man Vincent Ingala, guitarist Adam Hawley and singer Rebecca Jade --- were overflowing with holiday glee and the joy that emanated from the players easily translated to the audience. Koz and friends were backed by a four piece band (guitar, bass, drums and keyboards) and appropriately enough the show began with "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," initially with Dave blowing a smooth sax melody with Butler on acoustic guitar, with Ingala and Hawley entering next and finally Jade to add vocals to the chestnut.

The early part of the show, and with the players vogueing and syncopating dance moves it really was a show, featured a run of holiday favorites like a swinging version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" where Jade and Butler sang jazzy vocals, including some scatting from Jade, a rocking take on "Sleigh Ride" and a version of "Deck the Halls" that got a little bit funky. For "Let it Snow" Koz and Ingala had a tenor sax battle as they both gave their horns a workout, sometimes standing back-to-back and other times face-to-face as if they really were about to battle during the instrumental. In introducing "White Christmas" Koz advised that he wasn't going to sing, jestingly adding "You're welcome!" An absolutely stunning part of the show came next as Butler performed "Little Drummer Boy" with an arrangement that deviated from the way it is normally heard, with some of the song sung in an African dialect (Butler is a native of South Africa.) With the crowd already grinning from ear-to-ear, Butler's reading put the audience energy level over the top and garnered extended applause.

A more contemporary holiday tune, the breezy Stevie Wonder-associated "What Christmas Means to Me" was performed as was a reggae-inflected version of "Just Another Christmas Song" along with a take on "I'll Be Home for Christmas" that ended in a jam, and "Joy to the World" featuring Dave and Jonathan. That brought the show to about the half way point and a segment where the band got to ham it up a bit as Ingala sang part of "Blue Christmas" as Elvis until he was playfully shooed off the stage while the rest of the group played a medley of other tunes; ultimately Ingala returned, this time in full Elvis regalia, to finish "Blue Christmas" in great Presley fashion, which he pulled off spectacularly. The surprise was a real crowd pleaser and Koz joked once again, saying "Hopefully now Elvis has left the building!" Some non-holiday songs were performed including Butler's "Coming Home" from his recent Ubuntu album and "Automatic," a Koz and Hawley cut that has just hit the #1 spot on Billboard's Smooth Jazz chart. Koz, who is Jewish, always plays a tribute to Hanukkah and for this show it was a take on "Eight Candles (A Song for Hanukkah)" that was lively from the start but that got downright funky when the backing band's guitarist and bass player joined Dave out front to put a cool spin on the song. Hawley's 2018 hit "Can You Feel It" led into "Together" where Koz played his most frenetic solo of the evening, and with all players on stage the show ended with "Brand New Day" and an encore of the Leonard Cohen standard "Hallelujah." It may have been a week yet until Christmas but the audience was given a much-appreciated gift on the evening.

Koz will be mounting a Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour again in 2025 and before that happens he and tons of guest players will be sailing on two Dave Koz & Friends cruises in June of 2025; each will visit the Netherlands, Norway and Iceland. Dave also announced that he would be back in the Phoenix metropolitan area for a show with Bob James in March; details of that show have not yet been released. Follow Dave Koz here.

Share this article