February 19, 2025

**BOB JAMES AND DAVE KOZ TEAM UP ON DUETS ALBUM, JUST US, SET FOR MARCH 7 RELEASE**

Listen To Lead Single “New Hope” HERE

“Just Us” – An Intimate Evening Of Songs And Stories – Kicks Off On March 13 With Sold-Out Show In Traverse City, MI, James’s Hometown

PRESS RELEASE DOC DOWNLOAD LINK

“JUST US” STORY/ARTICLE/BIO DOWNLOAD LINK

Contemporary jazz icons Bob James and Dave Koz mark a unique milestone in both their careers with the aptly titled duo album Just Us, scheduled for release on March 7 via Just Koz Entertainment. A piano and saxophone only collection of fresh originals and colorful re-imaginings of Great American Songbook standards, its inspired format – sans the support of a traditional rhythm section – liberates both to venture spontaneously beyond the trademark sounds that fueled their superstardom and years of Billboard chart-topping successes.

“New Hope,” the lead single, is an elegant, soulfully soaring and deeply emotional reminder that we can be optimistic and dare to dream, even in uncertain times. Listen HERE. Dave wrote the track with Todd Schroeder while the two were in Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Koz recalls, “We were there for a show in a city called Jeddah and were overcome by the endless possibilities that lay in front of us in this new land—it served as a great inspiration and we composed the song right in the lobby of our hotel!”

Making the decision to literally stick to just piano and saxophone gives the album a flavor that’s worlds away from any recording James or Koz have ever done. “Every time we started into a new tune,” James recalls, “I realized that if I don’t have drums or bass, I have to figure out how to fill that space in with the piano. In the end, we loved the purity of the sound and freedom of filling in those spaces ourselves. We’re doing it this way when we perform this music live as well, no backup band with a short duo segment, but Just Us all the way through.”

The longtime friends recorded the album mainly in James’ hometown of Traverse City, MI – and that’s where they’ll kick off their “Just Us” mini-tour, playing a sold-out headline show at The Alluvion on March 13. The run will also include shows in Mesa, AZ, Chicago, IL, Minneapolis, MN and Seattle, WA. See below for itinerary. Tickets are available HERE.

The album came about spontaneously after Koz invited James to headline the main showroom aboard the Seaborn Ovation in September 2024 as part of Somma Italia, the saxophonist’s inaugural Somma Cruise, a luxury extension of the mega-popular Dave Koz Cruise. James agreed on one condition – that the two create a new recording to give to attendees.

Recorded at James’s house just weeks before the voyage sailed, the souvenir recording featured the two songs that now kick off and provide the foundation for Just Us – the lilting, soulfully swaying James original ballad “Sommation” (whose title cleverly references the cruise) and a passionate rendition of the standard “My Ship,” inspired by the pianist’s memory of Miles Davis’ 1957 arrangement of the classic Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin composition. Finding themselves on a freewheeling roll, the two also recorded a silky, highly improvisational rendition of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” and the first of two co-writes, the whimsical “T W O,” during that first session.

James explains, “We started having fun and one thing led to another. We weren’t thinking of recording an album but everything unfolded. After the cruise, Dave returned to my house and we just kept going. We did almost everything there and finished up later in Dave’s home studio in L.A. “

They recorded four originals in their second session – “New Hope,” the high-spirited “The Naked Ballet,” the dreamy, classical-leaning “Protea” and the French-flavored ballad “Rue de Rivoli” plus a romantic version of “All the Way.” The third and final session brought forth the buoyant, avant-garde “Fountain D’Alice” and a lighthearted swing through “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” The latter is a bonus track, available only on the physical edition of the album.

Koz observes, “In this digital age, artists can have as many tracks as they want to record a song. Each one takes up sonic space. If you only have two instruments, as we have here, taking up the entire sonic space, each can be heard in a much clearer, bolder, bigger way. It’s amazing and scary because we hear all the breaths, clicks and pad noise. Those who go on this ride with us will hear our instruments in a whole new way.”

TRACK LISTING – JUST US

1. Sommation (written by Bob James)

2. My Ship (written by Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin)

3. T W O (written by Dave Koz/Bob James)

4. All The Way (written by Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn)

5. Fontaine d’Alice (written by Bob James)

6. The Naked Ballet (written by Dave Koz)

7. Smile (written by Charlie Chaplin/John Turner/Geoffrey Parsons)

8. Rue de Rivoli (written by Dave Koz)

9. Protea (written by Bob James)

10. New Hope (written by Dave Koz/Todd Schroeder)

11. Sunny Side of the Street (bonus track – CD edition only) (written by Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields)

BOB JAMES * DAVE KOZ "JUST US" TOUR

3/13 – Traverse City, MI – The Alluvion – SOLD OUT

3/15 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center

3/22 – Chicago, IL – Studebaker Theatre

3/25 – Minneapolis, MN – The Parkway

4/1 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley

About Bob James:

Originally from Marshall, Missouri, two-time GRAMMY® winner Bob James (b.1939) has enjoyed a tremendously varied career, characterized by many fascinating twists and turns. To some, he’s a hip-hop icon because samples of his music played a pivotal role in the foundation of rap, while to others, he’s the godfather of smooth jazz.

After being discovered by Quincy Jones at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival in 1962, James made his mark at producer Creed Taylor’s CTI label in the 1970s when he was the architect of an innovative new sound that fused jazz with classical music and funk. James’ music found a broader audience in 1978 after his track “Angela” was used as the theme to the popular U.S. TV sitcom, “Taxi.” He also ran his record label, Tappan Zee, for many years, has released albums dedicated to classical music, and co-founded the popular and hugely successful smooth jazz group Fourplay. Now signed to international record label, evosound, Evolution Music Group, his latest album, Jazz Hands, was nominated for a GRAMMY.

About Dave Koz:

Dave Koz has racked up an astoundingly impressive array of honors and achievements: nine GRAMMY nominations, 12 No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Current Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, numerous world tours, a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, performances for multiple U.S. presidents and, most recently, a 2023 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

He also received the 2023 Starlight Children’s Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Koz, who has served as global ambassador for the Foundation for 30 years, has raised over two million dollars to date for the foundation through the Dave Koz & Friends At Sea silent auctions and his network of fans.

In over 30 years of constant touring, Koz has graced the stages of some of the most prestigious venues the world over, including Royal Albert Hall in London, Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Carnegie Hall in New York City and various symphony orchestras across the country. Koz also headlines The Hollywood Bowl every other summer season as one of the legendary venue’s “regulars.”

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For more information on Dave Koz:

Judi Kerr, Judi Kerr Public Relations

310-477-8191

judikerr@judikerrpr.com

For more information on Bob James:

Amy Lynch, Abelardo Management

407-454-4598

Amclynch@gmail.com

Download hi-res artwork and artist photos HERE

FOLLOW BOB JAMES:

www.bobjames.com