Dave Koz – YAS-62IIS Artist Selected Saxophone

The Artist Selection Process

In early September 2009, Dave spent several hours at the Yamaha Los Angeles Atelier testing instruments.  We lined up 23 identical YAS-62IIS saxophones, and let Dave start playing.  Never before have so many silver 62 alto’s been available for testing, and what the result would be was uncertain to everybody involved including Dave.  We all believe in the consistency of the instruments, and Dave said he’s played hundreds and hundreds of Yamaha saxophones, and all were great playing horns.  But when playing 23 of the exact same instrument back to back, what would happen.

The testing process is chronicled in a short video on the YamahaWinds facebook page.

For this process, Dave played each instrument several times including a blind test.  His comments about being able to take any one of these instruments right to a gig are true, making these 15 Dave Koz Artist Selected YAS-62IIS saxophones very unique.

There was some concern about whether the saxophones that were not selected would be found to be ‘bad’ instruments.  But actually as Dave discusses in the video, nearly every single instrument was a great saxophone, but several (15 to be exact) stood out as remarkable saxophones.

How will this instrument be marked?

Each Dave Koz Artist Selected instrument will be noted with an oval badge just above the serial number.  The number in the series (1 of 15, 2 of 15 etc) along with a signed card will assure the buyer of the validity of these special instruments.

What else will these horns come with?

Dave plays Rico Plasticover reeds and is a Rico artist, so the Rico gang will be including several of the exact same reed Dave plays with each saxophone.  Additionally a Yamaha Monster Sax Swab, microfiber polishing cloth, TD-5BK tuner, ME-D1 metronome and an MS-303AL music stand are included with each Dave Koz Artist Selected Saxophone.  The MS-303AL especially is an amazing product.  It’s an ultra-lightweight music stand constructed of aircraft-grade aluminum that is guarenteed to become one of your favorites for any gig or rehearsal.  Finally, an iTunes gift card is included so you can download some of Dave’s latest music (the album saxophonic is a personal favorite of the Yamaha staff).  A sealed envelope is shipped with each horn that contains instructions for how to redeem your freebies.  All combined, these have around a $400 retail value.

Where can I buy one?

To date, the following dealers have these instruments available for sale.

Summerhays Music, Murray UT – (800) 662-6666

ProWinds Music, Bloomington IN – (800) 789-8509

Motters Music, Lyndhurst OH – (800) 504-5100

West Valley Music, Mountain View CA – (650) 961-1566

California Keyboards, Bakersfield CA – (661) 327-5397

Yamaha History with Dave Koz

In the early 90′s while on tour with Richard Marx, Dave was introduced to Yamaha saxophones.  Ironically it was the fact that Richard was a Yamaha keyboard guy at the time that got Dave connected with Yamaha. Over the years, we have joked about his 90′s hairstyle in those early days.  Somewhere this is a Yamaha poster verifying Dave’s look during this time period.  To this day he still plays his silver Yamaha YSS-62S soprano and silver YAS-62S  that he selected in one of those early meetings.  In a 2006 podcast, among other topics Dave discusses those early days playing Yamaha and his initial impressions (available via iTunes)

Dave has maintained a close relationship to Yamaha throughout the years having been involved in many different shows and events.  Recently he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a distinction fitting for his career and contribution to music.

A contribution was made to Dave’s favorite charity, the Starlight Foundation, in recognition for his participation in this project.

You can see pictures of the entire Artist Selected process on the YamahaWinds facebook page or the YamahaWinds flickr page.  Some additional pictures from the day playing saxophones are below.

Advertisement

Filed under: Gear, Marketing, Saxophone, Artist Selected Saxophone Project, Dave Koz