WANT TO GO?
What: Side By Side Tour with Dave Koz & David Sanborn and special guests Jazz Funk Soul
Where: Fraze Pavilion, 695 Lincoln Park Blvd., Kettering
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5
Cost: $35 lawn & terrace, $45 side orchestra (sections A&D) and $50 center orchestra (B&C) in advance, $40 lawn & terrace, $50 side orchestra (sections A&D) and $55 center orchestra (B&C) day of show
More info: 937-296-3300 or www.fraze.com
Artist info: www.davekoz.com and www.davidsanborn.com
Dave Koz was a teenager in Los Angeles when he first met his idol, David Sanborn. Decades later, the jazz saxophonists are musical peers traveling and working together on the Side By Side Tour, which hits Fraze Pavilion in Kettering on Friday, Aug. 5.
Koz recently answered some questions about the collaboration.
Q: When did you first meet David Sanborn?
A: "When I was in high school, I somehow weaseled my way backstage at one of his concerts. I was just the biggest geek imaginable. I was tongue-tied, and I blurted out something like, 'David, I know every lick you've ever played. I want to be just like you. I want to sound just like you.' He looked at me and said, 'Hey, man, there already is me. You should just be you.' Those words still echo in my head. That was probably the best advice anybody ever gave me. It's very simple, straightforward advice and it has worked."
Q: As a long time Sanborn fan, what’s it like preparing for your first tour together?
A: "No matter if it's David Sanborn or anybody I'm collaborating with, I'm always petrified it's not going to work and it always does. In the last many years, I've collaborated with really amazing talent and I'm proud of that. Collaborating with another artist always gets me out of my comfort zone and allows me to break barriers, which has kept me afloat as an artist."
Q: But what about preparing for Sanborn, specifically?
A: "This is the granddaddy of them all. Without David Sanborn I don't know if I'd be talking to you because he was that much of a huge influence even before I picked up the saxophone. He's one of the reasons I wanted to try to play. He has been and will always be my number musical mentor so my head explodes just thinking about getting an opportunity to play side by side with him."
Q: What can audiences expect from the Side By Side tour?
A: "This is not a two-artist show. It's two artists coming together to create a new show organically from the ground up. We spent a lot of time talking about the tour. It's one thing to go to a show by David Sanborn and Dave Koz and see him play his music and me play my music but we've seen that before. The two of us together on stage is really what makes it so special and that's what we wanted to offer our audiences."
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