Married to her bass

WHAT: River front Jazz Festival
WHERE: Pfiffner Park, Stevens Point
WHEN: AUG. 30-31, starting at 4 p.m. both days
COST: Free
INFO: riverfrontjazzfest.com, 715-345-2976

THE MUSIC

Saturday
4-5:30 p.m. Bob Kase
6-7:30 Kristin Korb Trio
8-10 Randy Sabien and the Fiddlehead Band

Sunday
4-5:30 p.m. The Southside Aces
6-7:30 p.m. Bay City Swing
8-10 MadiSalsa

Kristin Korb’s niece plans to make it official when auntie plays the jazz fest

By Jim Lundstrom

Kristin Korb doesn’t know whether she will be single or married when she leads her trio on Pfiffner Park stage for the opening night of the two-day Riverfront Jazz Festival.

“I’m assuming I’ll be married by the time the gig happens, but I’m not sure. They haven’t told me the date yet,” she said by telephone during a break at a jazz camp she teaches in her home state of California.

The “they” she refers to are her nephew and nieces in Stevens Point – the three children of her drumming brother, Ryan Korb, who teaches jazz studies and jazz percussion at UW-Stevens Point. The kids decided it is time Auntie Kristin made her relationship legal by getting married. In particular, she says, it was 8-year-old niece Eva who instigated the marriage.

“She informed me it’s time for me to marry my bass,” Kristin said. “We’ve been together for 15 years. It’s the longest, most productive relationship of my life. The kids named my bass Mr. Tall, Dark & Handsome. Eva’s got it all worked out. She’s been taking piano lessons, so she’s got a piece composed for the entrance and the exit.”

Kristin Korb’s love affair with the upright bass began in her native Billings, Montana, when she was in junior high school and first heard her choir director leading a vocal jazz group.

“My junior high choir director is responsible for a lot of things,” she said. “I was a guitar player. When I heard the vocal jazz group, it was like, I want to be in the band.”

The band needed a bass player, not a guitar player.

“Whatever, I want to be in the band,” Kristin said. “I went after school, during lunch, listened to records and got my hands on the instrument. I really fell in love with the bass, its supportive nature and how much fun it is to be so involved all the time.
It’s a subtle thing. It’s not about being in the spotlight. The bass is great. It affects everything. I like having that kind of control, and having that positive input on a band.”

She went on to earn a music education degree at Eastern Montana College and a master’s in classical bass performance at the University of California-San Diego, working with bass virtuoso Bertram Turetzky, the man credited with developing the repertoire for the contrabass soloist, and the teacher Korb credits with telling her to put her two instruments together – bass and voice. It turned out to be a match made in heaven.

However, Korb made her recording debut in 1996 as a vocalist. The title – Introducing Kristin Korb with the Ray Brown Trio (Telarc) – gives an indication why. The great jazz bassist Ray Brown (Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, etc.) was introducing her to the world.

Korb had met Brown at a concert while still studying for her master’s and asked him for bass lessons. She credits Brown with helping her to “own” songs. He eventually suggested they make a recording.

She has since released three more CDs as vocalist/bassist, with the most recent being the 2006 CD Why Can’t You Behave.

“We will do some music from ‘Why Can’t You Behave’,” Korb said. “The whole theme of that album, in spite of the cover, it’s kind of a sexy cover, but to me the whole thing about it is not exactly how it looks on the outside. The songs are about thinking outside the box, taking chances. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Then, what happens and what are our responses to taking those chances?”

You can also expect to hear some tunes she’s preparing for the next CD, and a new arrangement of Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’”.

“This new arrangement is really different but very beautiful. Whenever people hear it, it’s ‘Oh, that’s really cool!’”

Korb will be accompanied at the fest by her regular pianist, Llew Matthews.

“Llew has been Nancy Wilson’s musical director the last 20 years and he’s been with Lena Horne. He’s amazing.” She said. “Whenever someone asks, ‘Kristin, who you playing with?’ and I say Llew Matthews, it’s ‘Ohmigod, I love Llew Matthews.’ I’ve been threatening to write a tune called ‘Everybody Loves Llew’. He’s a joyful, amazing player.”

Brother Ryan will play drums.

“My brothers and I started playing everything together and it morphed into jazz stuff. But we also played rock ‘n’ roll and whatever happened to come our way. Ryan and I were in jazz band together – I was a senior and he was a freshman. It was really fun being able to grow up and torment each other with drop-the-needle tests and other things. To share music with a sibling, especially on such a high level, is really, really fun.”

So, she said, expect a jubilant time at her performance.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun. I like to keep things really upbeat, especially outdoor performances,” she said. “And I have three kids to impress. If Coleman, Eva and Kate aren’t tapping their feet, I’m in trouble.”