Gary Karr

Gary Michael Karr (November 20, 1941 – July 16, 2025) was an American classical double bass virtuoso and academic teacher. In the 1960s he pioneered the use of the double bass as a solo instrument and new compositions were written for it. The Times said he was to the double bass "what Segovia was to the classical guitar". His playing was described as singing "with all the richness of the cello, the warmth of the viola and the agility of the violin". His father Joe Kornbleit, who changed the family name, worked in a shoe shop; his mother Miriam (nee Nadel) was an oboist. A younger sister played the harp. Seven generations of his ancestors had been double bass players but he was not encouraged to go into music, and in an interview he said he had no contact with the professional bassists in his family. He was first taught by his grandfather's friend, Uda Demenstein,

Karr began playing in an orchestra as a child with violinist Jack Benny. He attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and in 1959 gave a recital which included the bass recitative from the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He won a scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York, where he performed in the US premiere of Henze's opera 'Elegy for Young Lovers'. He studied at the University of Southern California; at the Juilliard School in New York City his major teachers included Herman Reinshagen and Stuart Sankey. He appeared as a soloist with orchestras internationally, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and with the major orchestras of Australia. In 1966 he recorded as a duet a difficult neo-romantic concerto for double bass by Henze with the English Chamber Orchestra. He recorded Koussevitzky's Double bass Concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic, among 90 recordings. and published a number of instructional books for the double bass, including for beginners. When teaching, he focused on each player finding a unique sound on the double bass, and playing with the lyrical emphasis of a singer. The Karr-Koussevitzky bass was once believed to have been made by the Amati family and is also referred to as the Amati bass.

The non-profit Karr Double Bass Foundation, which loans instruments to promising young double bassists to assist in their professional development, was established by Karr in 1983.

Gary Karr died from a brain aneurysm in Victoria, British Columbia, on July 16, 2025, at the age of 83. He also had cancer at the time of his death.