Corcoran Holt

Corcoran Holt, a son of Washington, D.C., began playing upright bass at age 10 with the renowned DC Youth Orchestra (DCYOP). He attended the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. from 1996 to 2000, completed a bachelor's degree in jazz studies in 2004 from Shenandoah Conservatory and a master's degree in jazz studies in 2006 from Queens College in New York City.

Holt spent seventeen years in New York City becoming one of the most in-demand bassists of his generation, performing, touring and recording regularly with numerous pioneers and greats in his field such as Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Kenny Garrett, Jimmy Cobb, Steve Turre, Javon Jackson and Wycliffe Gordon to name a few. 

In 2009 Holt represented the United States as a Jazz Ambassador, part of the U.S. State Department, touring the Middle East as both performer and educator. 

Also in 2009, Holt was a semi-finalist in the world-renowned Thelonious Monk Bass Competition.

He has worked as an educator and clinician with Jazz at Lincoln Center since 2010. Holt leads his own ensembles, has a titled album, “The Mecca," released in 2018, and is a part of three Grammy-nominated recordings: Kenny Garrett’s 2013 recording, “Pushing the World Away"; Jamison Ross’s 2014 recording, “Jamison"; and The Baylor Project’s “The Journey,” released in 2017. Kenny Garrett's recording, “Sounds from the Ancestors,” which Holt is a part of, won the NAACP Image Award for Best Jazz Instrumental in 2021.

Holt is honored to join the faculty at ASU School of Music, Dance and Theatre.