Beverly Kenney

Vocalist Beverly Kenney remains to be among jazz’s great tragedies — an exquisitely nuanced stylist whose sophisticated phrasing perfectly complemented the great jazz sensibilities from the later ’50s, she committed suicide on the top of her profession and awaits rediscovery by almost all the listening general public. Given birth to in Harrison, NJ, on January 29, 1932, Kenney started her career performing birthday greetings via phone for Traditional western Union. Eventually she relocated to NEW YORK, and in 1954 slice her first demonstration program with pianist Tony Tamburello (finally released in 2006 beneath the name Snuggled on your own Make). By year’s end Kenney relocated to Miami, quickly securing a realtor and appearing in the Dark Magic Space. There she was found out from the Dorsey Brothers, spending almost a year on tour using their orchestra before innovative variations prompted her leave. Following that Kenney came back to NY, working clubs together with George Shearing, Don Elliott, and Kai Winding furthermore to briefly touring the Midwest using the Larry Sonn Band before putting your signature on towards the Roost label, which in early 1956 released her debut LP, Beverly Kenny Sings for Johnny Smith. Arrive Swing beside me, a pairing with arranger Ralph Burns up, followed later on that same 12 months, and in the springtime of 1957 she teamed with Jimmy Jones & the Basie-Ites on her behalf final work for the label. Kenney resurfaced on Decca in 1958 with Sings for Playboys — her masterpiece, Given birth to to become Blue, soon adopted, and a 12 months later she released her swan track, Like Last night. Critics and fellow performers were practically unanimous within their compliment of Kenney’s artistry, however the introduction of rock and roll & roll practically guaranteed she’d remain private to the general public most importantly. Tellingly, throughout a Might 18, 1958, appearance on NBC’s The Steve Allen Present, she performed a genuine composition entitled “I Hate Stone.” Friends and co-workers generally cite Kenney being a melancholy, faraway figure in the ultimate a few months of her lifestyle, but her suicide at age group 28 on Apr 13, 1960, still boosts myriad queries: by most accounts, she spent her last hours composing each of her parents lengthy, heartbreaking letters on the table in her Greenwich Community flat before eating a lethal overdose of alcoholic beverages and Seconal, but her motivations are unidentified. A 1992 GQ mag profile by Jonathan Schwartz suggests Kenney was despondent within the dissolution of her love with Beat Era master Milton Klonsky, but a following investigation by enthusiast and journalist Costs Reed casts significant doubt upon this theory. While a digital footnote in her indigenous U.S., Kenney features an ever-growing cult pursuing in Japan, where all six of her LPs possess remained on the net.