Gary Karr

Gary Karr

American bassist Gary Karr has been referred to as the Paganini of the double bass. That doesn't seem entirely fair to Karr. After all, Paganini was the cream of a whole crop of virtuosos on a widely loved and respected solo instrument. Karr, meanwhile, has succeeded in making a career as an international soloist on an instrument that was not previously considered much of a solo instrument at all.

You could say it was in his blood. Born in Los Angeles in 1941 to American parents of Russian descent, Karr comes from seven generations of bass players 'going right back to the beginning of the orchestra in Europe'. His parents moved to Hollywood in the 1950s to join the legions of musicians pulling down handsome salaries as members of Hollywood studio orchestras. But that musical gold rush was short-lived; with the demise of the studio system and the gradual dismantling of the studio music departments, work soon dried up and Karr's parents strongly discouraged him from entering what seemed to be a profession in decline.

It was a high school music teacher who ultimately convinced him to do exactly the opposite: 'I owe it to him, more than to my family, that I ended up going into music.' After graduating from high school, Karr applied to the Juilliard School and was accepted. He left for New York to make his life as a musician.

'While I was still a student at Juilliard, I was doing 50 or more concerts a year'

His big break came when, in 1962, he played a solo during one of Leonard Bernstein's New York Philharmonic Young People's Concert telecasts. The piece was The Swan from The Carnival of the Animals, and Karr's soaring rendition made him an overnight musical celebrity. 'It was incredible. I was suddenly catapulted into touring as a soloist. While I was still a student at Juilliard, I was doing 50 or more concerts a year.'

What followed was a remarkably successful career as a full-time solo bassist - the world's first. Over the course of 40 years, Karr has played on six continents with virtually every major orchestra. He has been showered with musical accolades as well as a surprising amount of popular attention: his three bass recitals on Italian cable TV were seen by over 20m people; his recordings have sold spectacularly well in the Far East; and his life and work have been the focus of documentaries by the BBC, CBS, NPR and others.

In addition to his reputation as a virtuoso, Karr has become particularly well known for his advocacy of the bass as a lyric instrument. 'I think my inner voice was always a singing voice,' he says. 'I remember I had a job playing for the Metropolitan Opera, and after rehearsals I would always go to the library and look through the scores. I think the bass has, in the past, been relegated somewhat to kind of a percussion instrument that gives the orchestra harmonic foundation along with rhythmic drive.' He points out that the association with the voice is not as far-fetched as people might think: 'The range of the double bass is very close to the human voice. It is really not much more than that of the cello.'

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