Dave Koz grew up in Southern California's San Fernando Valley and began playing saxophone in his high school jazz band. Though he graduated from UCLA with a mass communications degree, he soon decided that he would prefer to communicate with the masses via his saxophone. The decision proved to be fruitful, with Koz landing touring gigs with artists such as Bobby Caldwell, Richard Marx and Jeff Lorber, and a stint in the house band for the short-lived "The Pat Sajak Show."

Koz embarked on a solo career in 1990, signing with Capitol Records and releasing his self-titled debut that year. Dave Koz reached No. 4 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, helping to pave the way for the growing smooth jazz genre. Subsequent top-charting albums such as Lucky Man (1993), The Dance (1999) and Saxophonic (2003) solidified Koz as one of the genre's top artists. He earned his first career GRAMMY nomination in 2001 for Best Pop Instrumental Album for A Smooth Jazz Christmas. In the ensuing years, Koz dabbled in his own radio show and a weekly TV series and started up his own smooth jazz cruise, Dave Koz & Friends At Sea. In 2007 Koz released At The Movies, a GRAMMY-nominated collection of interpretations of favorite TV themes featuring collaborations with trumpeter Chris Botti, Barry Manilow and Donna Summer. His recent albums, 2011's Hello Tomorrow and 2012's Live At The Blue Note Tokyo, earned GRAMMY nominations for Best Pop Instrumental Album.