Benefit concert
Her big break came in October 1955, when she was featured in a Jazz Benefit concert for Israel at Carnegie Hall, sharing the bill with Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Tito Puente, and Marian McPartland. An October 25, 1956 newspaper ad lists Kenney as appearing at the Playgoer Room at the Westnor restaurant in Westport, Connecticut. At 24 years old, Kenney was beginning to become a fixture of the New York Jazz scene. She earned a standing gig at Birdland with Lester Young, and upon her debut at New York’s Basin Street Club, DownBeat critic Nat Hentoff praised her as compared to other artists. He said Kenney is “more flexible than Helen Merrill, swings more easily than Teddi King, and her musicianship and care for lyrics are far superior to Chris Connor’s.”