One of the great joys of jazz festivals in recent years was hearing Kenny Davern continuing to find new things to say on an instrument that jazz had largely left behind in the 1940s: the clarinet. He coaxed levels of expressivity from it that few saxophonists could muster, and whether exploring the rich chocolatey texture of the lower chalumeau register or testing the upper extremes of his range, he constantly demonstrated its possibilities.

In a variety of contexts from full-sized bands to trios and quartets, Davern excelled at finding the unusual melodic path, and his elegant variations had a seamless logic. His natural style was traditional or mainstream jazz, but his sympathies were wider ranging than his public supposed. The regular bassist in his most recent band was one of Ornette Coleman’s avant-garde circle, Greg Cohen, and in earlier life he worked often with the saxophonist Steve Lacy and trombonist Roswell Rudd, who had both moved on from traditionalism to more experimental forms of jazz.

A compact, dapper, moustachioed figure, Davern also had a wry sense of humour, although this was appreciated more by his wide circle of friends than by his audiences, as he had an innate dislike of microphones. As a result, he tended to avoid much in the way of announcements, and to use the acoustics of a venue rather than relying on a public address system for his playing.

John Kenneth Davern grew up on Long Island, and spent much of his adult life in New Jersey, finally settling in New Mexico. Starting out on the unforgiving Albert system clarinet, which he loved for its woody tone, Davern moved to the more conventional Boehm instrument, but began his professional career as a saxophonist, playing the baritone with Ralph Flanagan’s orchestra. At the same time he was sitting in on clarinet at Eddie Condon’s New York club, and in due course he came to the attention of Jack Teagarden, whose band he joined in 1954.

On his first records, made with Teagarden, the main elements of his unusual clarinet style were already present, and from then on he progressively abandoned playing the saxophone, except for the soprano, which he continued to use in parallel with the clarinet.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Davern had the kind of jazz apprenticeship that had been commonplace before the war. He worked with such legendary figures as Henry “Red” Allen, Buck Clayton, Papa Jo Jones, Phil Napoleon and Eddie Condon, and also led his own band at Nick’s club, a Dixieland haunt on 7th Avenue in Greenwich Village.

He became known to international audiences from 1974 to 1979 as a member of Soprano Summit, the band he co-led with Bob Wilber, in which both men doubled on clarinet and soprano, jousting their way through swing numbers, and plaintively delivering ballads. Because Wilber lived for part of each year in the Cotswolds, Davern became familiar to British audiences, and some of the band’s best playing was recorded in the UK. He gradually abandoned the soprano, however, focusing entirely on the clarinet for most of the past 30 years.

This was entirely beneficial to his playing, and his mastery became more evident as each year passed. He was greatly in demand from festivals all over the world, and as well as spells with the New York Jazz Repertory Company and the band led by the swing trombonist Vic Dickenson, he mainly worked as a soloist. He played often with the pianists Dick Wellstood and Ralph Sutton.

From 1994 he began an association with the Arbors record label in Florida, whose proprietor, Mat Domber, encouraged Davern to record in a wide variety of contexts. This last series of records is a testament to his exceptional qualities, showing how he had developed within the jazz tradition, yet consciously adopted harmonic and rhythmic ideas from more contemporary areas of music. He also continued to be a frequent visitor to Britain, for occasional reunions with Wilber, and to lead his own bands at the Dean Street Pizza Express Club.

He is survived by his wife, Else, and his two stepchildren.

Kenny Davern, jazz clarinettist and saxophonist, was born on January 7, 1935. He died on December 12, 2006, aged 71