Sax Player Dave Koz on Opening for Barry Manilow…and Barack Obama

Saxophonist, Dave Koz commands the stage as a headliner selling out more than 60 concerts a year, but in 2015 he found success and fulfillment as an opening act. Just don’t call this sax player a second fiddle. The nine-time Grammy-nominated musician (whose song “Faces of The Heart” served as the General Hospital theme for 11 years) is proud of his collaborations and a year of opening for two very important guys named Barry. Koz, 52, spoke to Parade about opening for the man who writes the songs, playing for the President of the United States and standing side by side with his ultimate idol.

Do you remember the first time you picked up the saxophone?

At my mom’s urging, my brother and sister and I had piano lessons, and I really did not take to the piano. I still love to play but I completely suck at it [laughs] so I rebelled. At around 10 or 11, I thought, “What better way to get back at my parents than take up the drums?” and I was even worse on the drums. My older brother had a band and my dreams were crushed because I realized I have no musical talent. Cut to the seventh grade when I was going into a Beginning Winds class and I picked up the saxophone because my brother said the only way I would ever be able to be in the band was if I played the sax. It was the first instrument that felt right. I always say, if you’re interested in music and you pick up an instrument and it doesn’t quite work, try something else and if that doesn’t quite work try something else, because if I didn’t go that one more time, I wouldn’t have had this surprise career.

You just celebrated 25 years as a recording artist by releasing Collaborations: 25th Anniversary Collection. What was the significance of that anniversary and of that LP?

It kind of snuck up on me. I still feel like I’m aging backwards—I may not look it—but I feel like my best years are yet to come. So instead of it being a retrospective, I chose to spin it as chapter one, and I’m really excited about the next chapter. I could truthfully say with all my heart that if it all ended tomorrow, I could have no other words but thank you. Collaboration has been the common thread [in my career]: When musicians are collaborating onstage together, that is a dialogue that is expanding and contracting, and offering and taking. It’s really a give and take and that’s what I feel like we need much more of in our world.

You’re out with Barry Manilow as a special guest and opening act on his One Last Time tour. How did that come about? 

We’ve known each other for about 15 years. He invited me to be on one of his albums [Here At The Mayflower]. It was a concept album about different apartments in one building, and there was one song about this woman who listened to a sax player’s album every night. Cut to the recording session—and I’m already freaking out because I’m meeting one of my idols—and he says, “I’ve written this song about a woman who loves this sax player,” and he plays the song for me and sings, “I hear her playing Dave Koz in the middle of the night.” That’s the lyric! I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It was my first time meeting this man and he’s actually using my name in his lyric. So I knew this was the beginning of something special. From that moment on we became great friends and colleagues, but we had never done any proper touring together. That changed about two years ago, the beginning of his One Last Time tour in the U.K., and that became the U.S. tour that continues to get lengthened. It’s now going into its second year and we’re having a blast. I feel like this is such a big gift that’s been given to me. It’s the ultimate master class with one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

And next up, you’re touring with another legend. 

I grew up listening to and adoring and worshipping this guy as a saxophone deity, really—he was my saxophone idol. I learned all of his phrases and licks and would seek him out and go see every show. His name is David Sanborn, and this [August] we are teaming up to do a tour together called Side by Side. Me and my saxophone idol of all time on stage together creating music. It’s one of those things that kind of screws around with my head. How am I here and that guy is there next to me? It makes me so happy and so proud and excited and nervous—all the things you want to feel about new projects at my age.

You recently played for President Obama at a U.N. Reception. What was that like?

I was very inspired by Obama’s presidency and candidacy. All politics aside, I was very proud to see an African-American man be elected President of the United States in my lifetime. I had never met him, but I would always think, “Wouldn’t it be great to serve him in some way during his presidency?” Then out of nowhere, I got an email from the State Department that said “President Obama and Mrs. Obama request your presence and talent at a U.N. reception.” In a sense, be an opening act for President and Mrs. Obama. I was really excited and blown away and very honored. And it was a very surreal experience.

Did you get to meet them?

I [came offstage] and went over to the anteroom. I walk in there and I’m drenched because I’m so nervous from this gig and I’ve just played a hard 12 minutes, and who’s there but the Obamas. It’s just them and me. I was so surprised to see them I think I let out a shriek. [laughs] They couldn’t have been nicer. They laughed at my response to them and said let’s take a picture and [President Obama] was able to see a couple of our songs and then he went up and did his speech. So last year was my year of being an opening act—whether it’s Barry Manilow or Barack Obama, I’m happy to serve.