Dave Koz

In 2018, Koz collaborated with guitarist and regular Vulfpeck contributor, Cory Wong, on two tracks, 'The Optimist' and 'Friends at Sea'.

In December 2014, he opened Spaghettini & the Dave Koz Lounge, a restaurant and live music venue located at 184 North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, California with business partners Cary Hardwick and Laurie Sisneros, who own Spaghettini in Seal Beach.

In October 2010, Koz performed "Start All Over Again" in a Desperate Housewives season 7 episode "Let Me Entertain You", alongside singer Dana Glover. In July 2012, he appeared on The Eric André Show, season 1 episode 7, and sat in with the house band.

On September 22, 2009, Koz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Koz has promoted annual Dave Koz & Friends Jazz Cruises since 2005.

In an April 2004 interview with The Advocate, Koz came out publicly as gay. He has been a resident of Sausalito, California since 1990.

In 1994, Koz began hosting a syndicated radio program, The Dave Koz Radio Show (formerly Personal Notes), featuring the latest music and interviews with who's who in the genre. Dave co-hosted The Dave Koz Morning Show on 94.7 The Wave, a smooth jazz station in Los Angeles for six years. He decided to leave the show in January 2007 and was replaced by Brian McKnight. In 2002, Koz started a record label, Rendezvous Entertainment, with Frank Cody and Hyman Katz.

Koz released his second album, Lucky Man, in 1993. During production of the album in 1992, Koz was approached by the producers of ABC's General Hospital to perform on the show after his track entitled "Emily", from his Dave Koz album, was used as part of the show's soundtrack that year. After his GH appearance, executive producer Wendy Riche commissioned Koz to write a new theme song for the soap. Koz took elements from the show's existing theme song, Jack Urbont's "Autumn Breeze", and merged the chorus notes into a brand new smooth jazz composition titled "Faces of the Heart". The new theme music made its debut on General Hospital's 30th anniversary show, which aired April 1, 1993, and remained as the show's title track until August 27, 2004. "Faces of the Heart" ended up as the third track on Koz's Lucky Man album.

Within weeks of after deciding to be a professional musician, he was recruited as a member of Bobby Caldwell's tour. Koz was originally a rock musician before he moved to smooth jazz in 1989. For the rest of the 1980s, Koz served as a session musician in several rock bands, and toured with Jeff Lorber. Koz was a member of Richard Marx's band and toured with Marx throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, which was around the time he recurred as the guest saxophonist on the syndicated late-night talk show The Arsenio Hall Show. He also played in the house band of CBS' short-lived The Pat Sajak Show, with Tom Scott as bandleader.

In 1989, Koz decided to pursue a solo career, and began recording for Capitol Records. His albums there include Dave Koz (his 1990 solo debut), Lucky Man, The Dance, and Saxophonic. Saxophonic was nominated for both a Grammy Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Dave Koz was born in Encino, California to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologist and, Audrey, a pharmacist. Dave has a brother, Jeff, who is also a musician, and a sister, Roberta. Although he is Jewish, Koz plays both Christmas and occasional Hanukkah songs at his concerts. He attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, performing on saxophone as a member of the school jazz band. He later graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications in 1986, and only weeks after his graduation, decided to make a go of becoming a professional musician.

Dave Koz (born David Stephen Koz, March 27, 1963), also known as DK, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.