Jazz Articles about Kenny Davern
Beginnings Part 2 with Kenny Davern, Nat Adderley, Annie Ross and Junior Mance
by Monk Rowe
Kenny Davern: No One But Kenny
by George Kanzler
The album title could stand as a fitting epitaph for clarinetist Kenny Davern, who died of a heart attack in December, 2006 at seventy-one. For no one else played jazz quite like Davern, whose affection for old trad jazz tunes belied a quirky sense of time as singular as Thelonious Monk's and a cavalier attitude toward such traditions as chord changes, bar lines and conventional pitch. Like Sonny Rollins, another jazz musician fond of old tunes, Davern was a master ...
read moreThe Kenny Davern Quartet: In Concert at the Outpost Performance Space, Albuquerque, 2004
by Florence Wetzel
Now in his 70s, Kenny Davern is a modern master of the clarinet, and his playing is an example of the effortlessness that comes only from decades of effort. This release finds him in the good company of guitarist James Chirillo, bassist Greg Cohen, and drummer Tony DeNicola on eight classic songs that radiate the pure, toe-tapping pleasure of jazz. In the liner notes Davern is quoted as saying that he was initially attracted to the clarinet ...
read moreKenny Davern and Joe Temperley: Live at the Floating Jazz Festival
by C. Michael Bailey
A Rollicking Blowing Session on the High Seas...
The musicians comprising this band, save possibly for Joe Temperley, are all associated with a traditional mainstream group of musicians typically showing up on the Arbors, Nagel Heyer, Chiaroscuro, and Concord Labels. They include, in addition to these present, Ruby Braff, Howard Alden, Randy Moss, Randy Sandke, Mark Shane, Ken Peplowski, etc. They are all expert practitioners of jazz, a bit right of center, but able to play what is asked of ...
read moreKenny Davern & Joe Temperley: Live at the Floating Jazz Festival
by Dave Nathan
Although these veteran performers at the 18th Floating Jazz Festival had been around for quite, they had never played together as a group. There was also a bit of concern with having a baritone sax and clarinet on the front line. Not unexpectedly with these highly skilled artists, their concerns were unjustified. Joe Temperley, who is the first call to "play" Harry Carney when a tribute to Duke Ellington is being put together, and Kenny Davern, whose resume reads like ...
read moreKenny Davern, Ken Peplowski: The Jazz KENNection
by AAJ Staff
Nine action-packed cuts, and even a little musical trickery are the order of the day for The Jazz KENNection. The trickery occurs, well, let’s just say song titles can be deceiving! Ken and Kenny have put together a rousing collection of tunes from “Georgia On My Mind” to Ellington’s “Creole Love Call.” There is no really slow tune on this album, and it really plays to the improvisation abilities of both Ken and Kenny. The rhythm section is comprised of ...
read moreKenny Davern & The Eddie Condon All Stars: Kenny Davern: A Night with Eddie Condon
by Mike Neely
Kenny Davern: A Night with Eddie Condon presents a live performance that really sounds like a live performance, and that’s a rarity. The music is all around you like you’re listening from a table a few feet from the stage: you can hear the stage banter, the audience around you, and the cymbals tinging right above you. This disc was taken from a reel-to-reel recording of a 1971 concert in Syracuse, New York. The sound is surprisingly good, even the ...
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