Famed jazz group gives spontaneous in-flight performance amid delays
No one likes being stuck on an airplane longer than absolutely necessary, so when a famous jazz group aboard an Alaska Airlines flight was asked to help lift the spirits of their fellow severely delayed passengers with a live musical interlude, they happily busted out horns and played the unlikely venue.
In a now-viral video, Dave Koz and the Summer Horns performed their rendition of Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothing" in an impromptu concert amidst a slew of delays, diversions and timed-out staff en route from St. Louis to their next tour stop in Seattle.
The moment took place in the wee hours early Tuesday morning on the tarmac after their flight was diverted to Boise, Idaho, the namesake saxophonist told "Good Morning America." That's when Koz said most people were "at their breaking point" and "this wonderful flight attendant" stepped in to see if their group would want to provide some in-flight entertainment.
"Charlene was like, 'Can you guys play?'" fellow saxophonist Marcus Anderson added. "We end up getting our instruments out and everyone's excited and all these phones are coming out -- we're just thinking about giving people a great concert on an airplane."
They selected a song from their show set list and played it with as many of the 16 band members who had carried on equipment, including more brass from Jeff Bradshaw on trombone, Evan Taylor on trumpet and Leo P on baritone saxophone.
"All of us were involved and including our band members, even if they couldn't break out their guitars and basses, they were slapping along," Koz said.
"People were clapping. It was great vibes. It was great energy," Anderson said, adding that little kids recorded the video and were already watching it back in their seats after they concluded.
"We got the video content from people, and I said, 'Hey, Dave, I'm going to post it and share it.' By the time we get off the plane -- it was trailing close to maybe 200,000 views," Anderson explained of the initial explosion in social media interest. "It started skyrocketing."
Collectively across Instagram and Facebook, at the of time of publication, the clip has amassed over 2 million views with thousands of comments hailing the smooth jazz legends for their "playover" performance.
"We were just taking a moment trying to make lemonade with lemons, and it tasted very good," Anderson, whom Koz called "the future of the saxophone," said. "We brought the we brought the concert to all those incredible passengers, not just on stage, but on the plane as well."
Koz said he's "never played on a plane" before that, whereas Anderson once performed a solo version of "America the Beautiful" on Fourth of July.
Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to request for comment.
"This really taps into everybody's sort of frustration right now of traveling in the United States, where you feel so out of control, and this feeling of like you just don't know what to do," Koz explained. "We were able to sort of channel that energy and turn the vibe completely."
In 40 years of the music industry, this moment reminded Koz that he's still "humbled by the power of music to change a mood."
