Photo: Dave Koz.
Dave Koz and the Summer Horns perform on their summer 2025 tour. A video of their impromptu, in-flight performance went viral.
When I was in high school, Cousin Bob dated Ellen, a girl I knew who was good friends with Liza Minnelli. This was back when Minnelli was best known as the daughter of Judy Garland and not in her own right.
Well, Liza was already a good singer, and Ellen sang exactly like Ethel Merman. She was a little tiny thing, and it was amazing to hear that booming voice come out of her.
One day, the two of these girls were traveling together, and their plane was badly delayed. So Liza and Ellen started singing to entertain the other passengers, and it got in the paper that Judy Garland’s daughter had done this.
I think that’s the only story I know that’s similar to the one in this post, but probably you know of others.
Kelly McCarthy reported at ABC in August, “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 [in the] 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. …
” ‘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. …
” ‘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 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. …
” ‘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.’ “
More at ABC, here.
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