John Kenneth Davern, known professionally as Kenny Davern, and born on January 7, 1935, in Huntington, New York, was a jazz clarinetist. He began his musical journey at 16, joining the musician's union as a baritone saxophone player. His breakthrough came in 1954 when he joined Jack Teagarden's Band and made his first jazz recordings. Davern worked with bands led by Phil Napoleon, Pee Wee Erwin, and the Dukes of Dixieland before freelancing with notable musicians like Red Allen, Ralph Sutton, Yank Lawson, and Dick Wellstood in the late 1960s. He was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame at Rutgers University in 1997 and received an honorary doctorate of music from Hamilton College in 2001. Davern died of a heart attack on December 12, 2006, in Sandia Park, New Mexico.
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