Ken Korb Sr., Holbrook musician, painter, woodworker dies at 70

He was The Rocket, man. That was the nickname bestowed upon blues musician Ken Korb Sr. decades ago, and how his fellow musicians greeted him right to the end. But Korb, a multitalented harmonica virtuoso from Holbrook, was also a painter, cabinetmaker and woodworker.

Rocket? Korb was an entire space station.

"He was so multifaceted," said Bob Westcott, of Mount Sinai, a guitarist who played often with Korb, beginning in the early 1990s.

"He was a multi-instrumentalist — harmonica, tin whistle and some guitar and some mandolin as well," Westcott said. "And he was a fine woodworker. It was primarily cabinetry but he made guitar stands for a couple of my friends — beautiful pieces. And the fine art that he did was, gallery-ready stuff."

Korb, who was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a pulmonary autoimmune disease, more than 35 years ago, died at home of the affliction after a bout with pneumonia and being severely ill for about two years. He was 70.

Funny and kind

"He was the epitome of love and joy," said his wife, Lora Kuykendall, a violinist who performs as Lora Kendall. "His spirit was larger than life. Every person you talk to will say that the most amazing thing about him was how kind he was and how funny he was."

Although, as friends and family invariably pointed out, he loved to tell bad jokes.

Westcott recalled how as were bandmates in The Tobacco Roadies, one of the groups for which Korb played over the years, "We'd be playing and I'll be strumming along and fingerpicking away and he’d say, ‘Notice how the fingers never leave the hands!’ Stupid stuff like that," he added affectionately. "It was kind of music and comedy when we played together."

The second of seven children of Norman Theodore Korb and Margaret Nordstrom Korb, he was born Kenneth Michael Korb in Brooklyn on Sept. 26, 1955. His family moved to Deer Park and in 1973 he graduated from Holy Family Diocesan High School, now St. Anthony’s High School, in South Huntington.

Art as woodwork 

Korb studied art since childhood. He found an avocation in woodworking, opening a related business in his parents' garage, where he designed and produced cabinets, coffee tables, bookcases and other custom pieces.

His companies over the years included Woodland Designs, Wood Mode, Ken Korb Designs and, most recently, Legacy Touch Ups, a family business with his son Michael Korb and son-in-law Joseph Patti, specializing in surface repairs.

As a painter Ken Korb worked in oil, watercolor, charcoal and other media, primarily landscapes.

But he was best known as a musician, mostly playing blues since at least 1990 on Long Island and in New York City, New Jersey and Delaware. His bands included the Red River Ramblers and Rocket and the Launchers — named for the sobriquet "The Rocket," given him by Huntington musician Willie Steel.

Raised Roman Catholic, Korb became active in his wife’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Middle Island

"He was a very, very religious man, a man of a lot of faith," Kuykendall said. "He and my pastor became almost brothers, they were so close to one another, and he painted the art that is used on our glass window in the front of our church."

Shortly before Korb died, Westcott said , "he told me, ‘What I want to do is to have my wake while I'm still alive.’ That's a direct quote. So we did."

In the week leading up to his death, friends came to say goodbye.

In addition to his wife, Korb is survived by three children with ex-wife Lynn Herman: daughter Heather Korb, of Patchogue, and sons Kenneth Korb Jr., of Miller Place, and Michael Korb, of Holbrook; two grandchildren; a sister, Linda Broedel, of Baltimore; and brothers Norman, of Holtsville, Daniel, of Queens and upstate Woodstock, Timothy, of East Islip, Thomas, of Farmingdale, and David, of Boise, Idaho.

Visitation was Friday at Raynor & D’Andrea Funeral Home in Bayport. Following a service Saturday at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Middle Island, Korb was buried in the church’s cemetery. Donations may be made to the American Lung Association.