BOB JAMES AND DAVE KOZ’S UNPLUGGED DUETS ALBUM, JUST US, IS OUT NOW
Contemporary jazz icons Bob James and Dave Koz mark a unique milestone in both of their chart-topping careers with the aptly titled duo album Just Us, released today via Just Koz Entertainment. Just Us is an important record for both Bob and Dave because it is completely unlike anything either artist has ever recorded. It’s raw and unplugged with just the saxophone and piano only, on every song. They recorded most of the tracks in James’ large living room, with a mic for Koz’s alto and two soprano saxes set up next to Bob’s nine-foot grand piano.
“Even through our decades of friendship, I don’t think we could have made this album before this moment,” explains Bob James, a two-time GRAMMY® winner who’s known as both a hip-hop icon and the godfather of smooth jazz. “We were emboldened because for a long time we didn’t know we were even making an album. Everything was about our natural musical kinship, represented by the piano and sax in all their full, beauty, glory and nakedness. Where else can you hear these instruments without any sonic competition?”
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.
“New Hope,” the album’s lead single, is an elegant, soulfully soaring and deeply emotional reminder that we can be optimistic and dare to dream, even in uncertain times. Koz penned the track with Todd Schroeder while on tour in Saudi Arabia. Listen HERE. Just Us includes six additional originals – the lilting James original ballad “Sommation,” the whimsical “T W O,” which Bob and Dave co-wrote, and the high-spirited “The Naked Ballet.”
“Protea” is a dreamy, soft-spoken classical-tinged James composition, that, along with the frisky, buoyant “Fontaine d’Alice,” are tracks that Koz calls “avant-garde pieces of music that don’t have typical song form.” The nine-time GRAMMY nominee adds, “They’re not through-composed works, but the interesting and beautiful thing about Bob is his devotion to melody. These pieces are incredibly challenging and had me feeling so emotionally exposed, but they also provided much to sink my teeth into melodically.”
Just Us also includes imaginative versions of three standards – a silky, highly improvisational rendition of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” a passionate rendition of “My Ship,” inspired by Miles Davis’ 1957 arrangement of the classic Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin song and a romantic version of “All the Way.” A lighthearted swing through “On the Sunny Side of the Street” is a bonus track, available only on the CD edition of the album. Fans can purchase a limited edition signed CD with bonus signed poster HERE.
Koz observes, “When 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 (two shows)