Kenny Hing, a great tenor player

Recently I was given 20 years of Saxophone Journal magazines, nearly complete from 1981 through 2001. I had not been a subscriber, and I've been enjoying a lot of cool articles. The Winter 1987 issue featured a story on the Count Basie sax section, including interviews with the members at that time. In the interview with tenor player Kenny Hing, I ran across the name of my old teacher in Portland, Eddy Flenner:

At about the sixth grade I started studying privately and I guess I showed some promise on the clarinet because my folks decided to get me a better horn. We went to a music store to get a wood clarinet, like the pros played, and there was a clarinet and saxophone teacher there named Eddy Flenner: a very fine player and gentleman and I owe so much to him...I studied the clarinet privately with Eddy clear through high school. I got very involved and as soon as I started taking clarinet lessons I wanted to be just like Benny Goodman or Artie Shaw. Then, during my freshman year in high school, I got a new Martin alto saxophone; this was about 1951. I remember seeing my teacher at clarinet lessons, with his shiny alto sitting there, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on that alto! 

Some of the first books I used were the Klose method, Langenus, Rose, and Twenty-seven Virtuoso Studies for Saxophone...During my sophomore year in high school I started playing professionally...Then I ran away from home when I was a junior...

Kenny supported himself playing music, eventually establishing himself in Las Vegas, playing in the house bands at the Sahara, the Dunes, and the Flamingo. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1977, replacing Jimmy Forrest, and stayed for 25 years. He's retired now, living in Oregon.

According to Leonard Feather's Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, Kenny Hing started lessons with Eddy in 1946. Eddy would have been 32 then, not long after he started teaching. I studied with Eddy in the early 1970s, at the end of his teaching career. Eddy passed away in 1974, shortly after I left Portland. I owe a lot to him, too.

According to the Saxophone Journal interview, Kenny was self-taught as an improviser; apparently he worked mostly on "legit" skills with Eddy.

Kenny has of course taken his playing a lot further than I have. Clearly, it has more to do with talent and dedicated practicing than who your teachers were.

I hadn't been aware of Kenny Hing, but this article sparked my interest. There are some Basie clips on Youtube that feature Kenny's soloing. He's a wonderful player!

In this video, Kenny plays first, Eric Dixon second:

He plays the tenor solo on this Basie/Sarah Vaughan recording of "All the Things You Are":

Kenny recorded one CD, "The Little King." It's a tight band, with fine players: Bob Ojeda, trumpet; Mike Abene, piano; David Jackson, bass; and Dennis Mackrel, drums. Kenny plays with a beautiful tone, and absolutely tastefully - a model of solid tenor playing. You can get the album on iTunes.






Here's a link to a discussion on saxontheweb.

And here's a short but fun interview on Tim Price's website.

For more about Eddy Flenner, check this earlier post. If you knew Eddy, please leave a comment!