Customer Reviews

Double Feature

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With two decades of performances under his belt,the renowned, multi-Grammy nominee master saxophonist Dave Koz has turned to one of his favorite pastimes, the movies, for inspiration for his new album .
The result is "At The Movies", a beautiful, romantic collection of timeless songs from some of the most beloved movies of all time.
The record is produced by Phil Ramone, who has produced other such legendary projects as Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company" and Billy Joel's "The Stranger".
The 40-piece orchestra enlisted by Koz and Ramone provides a majestic, sweeping soundscape for the saxophonist and his guest vocalists.
The album features theme songs from 12 movies, including "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca; "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's (one of his favorites on the disc); and "It Might Be You" from Tootsie.
On six tracks, guests India Arie, Anita Baker, Chris Botti, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Donna Summer and Vanessa Williams add gorgeous, rich vocals and other music to Dave's saxophone.
For this eighth solo album, Dave Koz worked with a live, full orchestra, a new experience for him.
The orchestration was essential for the cinematic songs, adding that he believes in the magic that movies and music can create together.
"When you go into a darkened movie theater, ...you're transported to another world, completely forgetting about your problems. ...It takes you away. And that's the feeling that I wanted to go for with this project," Koz said.
My favourite tracks are : "Somewhere" from West Side Story, featuring Anita Baker , and "The Shadow Of Your Smile", featuring Johnny Mathis and the ubiquitous Chris Botti, " It Might Be You" featuring India.Arie, and "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.
Dave's sax playing is relaxed, soulful, and infectious. It is an irresistible attraction of sexiness, nostalgic memories, warmth and deep bluesy notes that make up one stunner of a smooth jazz album any jazz fan will appreciate.It sent me to a good comforting place, to collect my thoughts and my memories and unravel any tiredness felt.
Perfectly weighted and surprisingly moving,this CD shows the crucial role music plays in the filmmaking process and reminds us how deeply movies and their music touch our emotions, creating a soundtrack not just to a given film, but also to our lives.
Most likely it will be one of the most popular and commercial Smooth Jazz sets of 2007.
I listen to it every chance I get. It is great just to put in your CD player on "repeat" and allow it to soothe and inspire you for a few hours, for an evening, or an for entire day.
This new edition of At the Movies - just in time for Valentine's Day - contains two bonus tracks plus a new DVD that captures the pop instrumentalist/saxophonist and his guests making the album.
The never-before-released bonus audio tracks are : "Alfie", the Oscar-nominated theme from the film of the same name, and Dave's interpretation of renowned Italian composer Nino Rota's "Love Theme from the Godfather."
Happy Valentine's Day!

If you love Dave Koz you will love this CD. The arrangements are wonderful and the guest artists most enjoyable. Can't go wrong with this if you love jazz.

I very much enjoy this album. I had seen the video as, I believe, a PBS offering and wanted to own the music. The special packaging on the deluxe version includes a DVD of the video, which is a nice plus. Dave provides a wonderful interpretation of these classic tracks. Dave Koz fans and those that enjoy movie music will not be disappointed. The engineering of the recording is superb. Only regret is it's not 5.1 DVD-A or SACD, which would have really been a kick!