Back in the day, Thousand Oaks used to be used as the background scenes for scores of TV and movie Westerns. On Sunday night at the Fred Kavli Theatre, Dave Koz and David Sanborn re-lived those golden moments with an alto sax shootout that was as exciting as anything at the OK Corral.
Even the outfits and hardware matched; Sanborn, dressed in black and armed with a bronzed beauty, was the veteran of Dodge City, while Koz, dressed in white with a trio of shiny silver saxes, was the exuberant new gun in town. Together with a funkified team of Ricky Peterson/key, Randy Jacobs/g, Andre Berry/b, Ramon Yslas/perc and Third Richardson/dr, the set the evening’s pace with a 16 minute medley that included the notes ricocheting off the walls on “Got To Get You Into My Life.”
Koz, a local boy from Tarzana made good, had always dreamed of being on stage with his idol Sanborn, who is one of the pioneers of mixing jazz with R&B with funk. They both took turns in the spotlight, each displaying their own personal styles. Sanborn with his patented sinewy smooth tone, went dark and mysterious on “Maputo” and threw in a few Charlie Parker quotes as he bebopped through the reggae-tinged “Getaway.”
For his solo outings, Koz showed a rich and eager to please tone as he held long passionate notes on “Faces of the Heart” while bouncing back and forth between drums and percussion on the infectious “Together Again.”
The mixing of styles and personalities was infectious mix of worldly wisdom and eager to please enthusiasm, with each temperament showing there charms. But none of it would matter if they couldn’t deliver the goods, and each rose to the occasion as on the relentless backbeat of the playful “You Make Me Style” and the thumb slapping rubberneck of “Run For Cover.”
The upbeat and optimistic attitude of the evening was summed up by the title of the encore, “Smile,” as Koz and Sanborn displayed that while this style of music may sometimes be denigrated as being labeled “smooth,” the feel of the evening was rough and ready.
Upcoming shows at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza include Peter Cetere Sept 17, Englebert Humperdinck Sept 21, Clint Black Oct 6, Foreigner Unplugged Nov 1, Alan Parsons Project Nov 4 and Ringo Starr Nov 11