Meet the Musician
Musician 1st Class Kenneth R. Fennell,
Communications Coordinator
Musician 1st Class Ken Fennell, originally from Macon, Ga., joined the Navy Band in 2003 as a saxophonist with the Cruisers before assuming his current position in the public affairs office in 2009. He attended Valdosta State College from 1978-1980 where he majored in music and studied with Robert Greenhaw. He later studied saxophone, flute and clarinet at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., where he received a Bachelor of Music, magna cum laude in 1990. His teachers included Joe Viola, Bill Pierce and George Garzone.
Fennell enlisted in the Navy and served in the Atlantic Fleet Band in Norfolk, Va., Navy Band Guam, and Navy Band Charleston (South Carolina) from 1981-1988. Later during another enlistment, he served at Navy Band Northeast in Newport, R.I., from 2002-2003. During this time he participated in two UNTIAS deployments to South America and West Africa and performed throughout Southeast Asia.
Between his two enlistments, Fennell worked as a freelance musician based in the Atlanta area where he also performed on cruise ships, opened for Chris Potter and Chubby Checker and appeared with Stanley Turrentine, Archie Bell, Don Moen, Lenny LeBlanc and Paul Baloche. He operated his own recording studio and was a staff digital editor for the daily Christian radio program, “Leading the Way.”
