Kimon Karoutzos

Kimon Karoutzos is a double bassist, jazz musician and composer from Athens, Greece. He studied at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam and completed his graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York under the guidance of legendary bassist Ron Carter, with whom he studied for more than three years, as well as studying with Phil Markowitz and Dave Liebman.

He has performed with international artists such as Pasquale Grasso, Cyrus Chestnut, Greg Hutchinson, Arturo O’Farrill, George Kontrafouris, Benjamin Herman, Eric Ineke. He holds a diploma in classical double bass with highest honors from the Attiko Conservatory.

In parallel, he has studied with double bassists François Rabbath, Rufus Reid, Jeremy McCoy, and Thierry Barbé. He has performed at venues and festivals abroad such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the North Sea Jazz Festival, Bimhuis, the Umbria Jazz Festival, and the Cervo Music Festival, as well as in more than ten countries across Europe, the United States, and South Africa.

In Greece, he has appeared at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the Jazz in the Park Festival, and the Onassis Stegi (Onassis Foundation Cultural Centre), among others.

In 2018, he won the Best Soloist Award at the Keep an Eye Jazz Competition in Amsterdam. In 2020 and 2022, he was among the ten semifinalists in the jazz double bass competition of the International Society of Bassists.