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Kristin Korb: 'Traveling Groove Merchant' And Yes, Singer

Courtesy of Kristin Korb

There aren't many jazz bassists who can sing with such ease, skill and style that you forget they're also playing bass. Ten recordings and several world tours into her performing career, Montanan Kristin Korb wields her double bass and woos audiences with romantic, danceable tunes that reflect her reverence for melody - like the songs of Johnny Mercer, whose unpublished "orphaned" texts Korb set to music and recorded on "Beyond the Moon."  Korb teaches widely and performs and records with the likes of Llew Matthews, Kim Richmond, Pete Christlieb, Jeff Hamilton, Alex Riel and Jan Lundgren. Any given summer, you might find her playing a jazz society in California, a Rhône River cruise in France - or the Alberta Bair Theater in Billings, Montana.

In 2019, Korb is playing with her fellow European trio members (Korb lives in Denmark), Magnus Hjorth and Snorre Kirk. She's also teaming up with Ida Hvid and Helle Marstrand, two fellow singing female bassists who join Korb in a trio they call "Blonde Bass."

Join host John Floridis for a conversation with musical multi-tasker Kristin Korb about this jazz artist's  early inspiration (which came in the form of Barbara Mandrell), and what it's like for a high-profile musician to move from Los Angeles to Denmark, meet new collaborators, and learn a new language. "If you're timid, it's not going to get any easier," she says. "whether it's learning a new tune or trying to write something. If you just dive on in and embrace whatever those challenges are - and take a nap when you need it - it's part of the ride."

(Broadcast: "Musician's Spotlight,"  5/9/19. Listen on the radio Thursdays, 7:30 p.m., or via podcast.)

John Floridis, the host and producer of Musician's Spotlight, has been with Montana Public Radio since 1997. He has interviewed over 200 musicians during that time. He is also an independent recording and performing artist in his own right and a former registered music therapist.
Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.
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