Kristin Korb

Kristin Korb is both a swinging bassist and an occasional jazz singer. Originally she was a guitarist and singer who loved country music; Barbara Mandrell was one of her early musical heroes. Korb also studied piano and violin. She attended the Soundsation Jazz Camp one summer and came away interested in performing jazz. She switched from guitar to electric bass to join a vocal jazz group in the seventh grade, taking up the acoustic bass in 11th grade.

Korb earned a degree in Music Education at Eastern Montana College in 1992 and spent the next two years working on her masters in Classical Bass Performance at the University of California at San Diego. She took lessons from Bertram Turetzky who inspired her to sing and play bass at the same time. In 1994, she met and started studying with Ray Brown, who recorded her debut the following year, Introducing Kristin Korb with the Ray Brown Trio. Where that CD has Korb just singing, her other recordings, for Grace Bass and Double K, feature her as both a vocalist and a bassist. Korb taught jazz history, bass, and the vocal jazz ensemble at Grossmont Community College during 1996-2000, and was the Director of Jazz Studies at Central Washington University during 2000-2002. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2002, she has performed at jazz parties, occasionally toured, and led her own trio.