Edwin Dennis "Denny" Hardy, photo from 9 January 2010
The younger son and youngest child of J. Edwin and Ruby (Christy) Hardy, Edwin Dennis "Denny" Hardy was born in Revere, Missouri, on 29 July 1933. He early on displayed the musical talent and precocity that would come to typify him, quickly developing proficiency on a number of musical instruments and exhibiting the keen with and mischievous attitude that partly justified one of his many later nicknames, "Puck."
Denny served in the United States Army during the 1950s. He was stationed for part of his service in Alaska, during which term of service he was involved in killing a Kodiak bear.
Most notably, in nearly every popular musical genre of the mid-twentieth century, Denny had some hand, performing with major figures in the music industry. Among others, he shared the stage with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Rock saw him perform with the original Four Freshmen--something that ended up on the air during a PBS fundraising drive--and taking the saxophone solo on David Lee Roth's "Just a Gigolo." His horn sang out alongside Fats Domino and Kenny Rogers. Diana Ross heard him play and offered him a spot on one of her European tours. And in one crowning example of the titanic technique at the man's disposal, Denny outplayed Boots Randolph on Randolph's own signature "Yakety Sax," sending the latter from the stage.
After living and playing for several decades in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Denny moved to Kerrville, Texas, where he lived through most of the 1990s and 2000s. There, he served as a musical mentor and somewhat grandfatherly figure to his great nephews, Geoffrey Bryce Elliott, David Dean Rynearson, and Daniel James Elliott. Part of that mentoring came through his continued performing life; for a number of years, he was a key player in the Hill Country's Senitmental Journey Swing Orchestra, and he played with Bill Smallwood's Lone Star Swing Orcehstra, Mike Kasberg's Blues Revue, and a number of other bands in the area.
All this happened despite Denny's increasing respiratory difficulty and other health problems. He was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder in the mid-1990s and remained under an increasingly intense treatment regimen for it thereafter. The disease, and complications from it, resulted in his death on 19 December 2012, in Kerrville, Texas. Funeral services were held at Kerrville Funeral Home, with a celebration of his life by local musicians and family members held afterwards at Roddy Tree Ranch, outside of Hunt, Texas.