Holiday tour result of tragedy

The annual Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour has brought joyful holiday music to audiences all over the country for 15 years. But the original idea for the show was born of sorrow.

It started in 1997 when Koz, popular smooth-jazz saxophonist and radio show host, interviewed pianist David Benoit for a broadcast. The musicians discovered that each had lost a parent — Benoit’s mother and Koz’s father had both died recently.

It was Benoit who came up with the idea to go out on a concert tour.

“I said, ‘We ought to go out and do a Christmas tour, because it’s going to be kind of tough around the holidays without our parents,’” Benoit recalled. “Dave is the one who made it happen. I had the idea, and he ran with it.”

While Benoit has continued to play the annual tour on and off over the years, Koz has gone on the road to play holiday favorites every year.

This year, Benoit has rejoined the tour and will perform with Koz, star drummer Sheila E. and others Dec. 14 at Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa as part of the “Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour 2012.”

“It’s a fantastic time to be out touring. People are in such a great mood,” Koz said by phone from one of the tour’s stops in Florida.

“A lot of people have come to this show many years in a row,” he added. “We see families, with grandparents and kids. We see office parties, where people come with their co-workers.”

The tour has featured an ever-changing cast of guest stars over the past decade and half, growing from half a dozen performances in 1997 to 26 cities this year.

“It’s like casting a television show or a movie,” Koz said. “You put together people who may or may not know each other, but whose music, temperament and personality flow together. That influences the direction of the show.”

Benoit, known for his interpretation of Vince Guaraldi’s “Peanuts” theme music, will have his own segment in the program, and one of the highlights this year is Sheila E.’s new version of “Little Drummer Boy,” renamed “Little Drummer Girl.”

“Sheila E. typically brings down the house practically every time she plays,” Benoit said.

The show also co-stars singer Javier Colon, winner of the first season of NBC’s talent contest series, “The Voice,” and new singer-songwriter Margo Rey.

Backed by Koz’s four-piece band, the cast will introduce a couple of new songs — Sheila E.’s “Everybody Knows It’s Christmas” and Rey’s “This Holiday Night” — and power through a long list of holiday standards.

A few samples from the classic songlist: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Christmas Song,” “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Carol of the Bells.” And that’s not all.

“In this show, I get to play ‘White Christmas,’ which is one of the all-time great melodies,” Koz said. “That’s the beauty of Christmas music. There’s so much of it that every year you can change up, and you’ll never run out.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. See his ARTS blog at arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.

IN CONCERT
What: Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour 2012
When: 8 p.m. Dec. 14.
Where: Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa.
Admission: $39-$69.
Information: 546-3600, wellsfargocenterarts.org.