Charlie Kennedy (saxophonist)
American musician (1927-2009)
Charles Sumner Kennedy (July 2, 1927 – April 3, 2009) was an American big band-era alto saxophonist.
Early life
Kennedy was born on Staten Island in New York City.
Career
Kennedy played with Louis Prima's big band orchestra in the 1940s. He performed a solo on that band's 1943 recording of "The White Cliffs of Dover". After a brief stint in his own band, he joined Gene Krupa's big band.
Over the course of his career, he also played with Terry Gibbs's Dream Band, as well as Charlie Ventura, Flip Phillips, Chico O'Farrill, and Bill Holman.
In addition to live performances and recordings with big-name bands, he also was a frequent studio musician. He played in the orchestras for popular movies including My Fair Lady and West Side Story.
Personal life
In the 1970s, for more stable income to support his family with six children, he gave up his career as a full-time musician, but continued to perform in clubs near his home in southern California. He died of pulmonary disease in Ventura, California, at the age of 81.
The public source identifies “Charlie Kennedy (saxophonist)” as american musician (1927-2009). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Charlie, Kennedy and saxophonist.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5085110. VIAF identifies the subject as 26678204. The Library of Congress control number is no98032954. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 2009 and 1943.
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This entry incorporates text from “Charlie Kennedy (saxophonist)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.