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| Kenny Davern is dead  Kenny Davern died at Sandia Park, New Mexico 12 December 2006. He was 71. John Kenneth Davern (born January 7, 1935) was one of the premier jazz clarinetists of his generation. He was born in Huntington, Long Island to a family of mixed Jewish and Irish-Catholic ancestry. His mother's family originally came from Vienna, Austria, were his great-grandfather Alfred Roth had been a colonel in the Austro-Hungarian cavalry, the highest rank accessible to a Jew in the Habsburg Imperial army.After hearing Pee Wee Russell the first time, he was convinced that he wanted to be a jazz musician, too; and at the age of 16 he joined the musician's union, first as a baritone saxophone player. In 1954 he joined Jack Teagarden's Band. Later on, he worked with bands lead by Phil Napoleon and Pee Wee Erwin before joining the Dukes of Dixieland in 1962. The late 1960s found him free-lancing with a.o. Red Allen, Ralph Sutton, Yank Lawson and his life-long friend Dick Wellstood. At this time, he had also taken up the soprano saxophone in Soprano Summit. Co-led by Wilber and Davern, both switching between the clarinet and various saxophones, during the next five years Soprano Summit enjoyed a very successful string of record dates and concerts. When the group disbanded in 1979, Davern devoted himself to solely playing clarinet, preferring trio formats with piano and drums. His collaboration with Bob Wilber was revived in 1991. Leading his own quartets since the 1990s, Davern worked with guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden and James Chirillo. In 1997, he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame at Rutgers University, and in 2001 he received a honorary doctorate of music at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York. Although playing mainly in traditional jazz and swing settings, his musical interests encompass a much broader range of styles. In 1978 he collaborated with avantgarde players Steve Lacy, Steve Swallow and Paul Motian on a free jazz-inspired album appropriately entitled Unexpected. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |