Ray McKinney
bass
Ray McKinney was a Detroit bassist from the musical McKinney family; Barry met him, with Harold, Clarence and Bernard McKinney, on the city’s west side in his late teens and says Ray was the one he hung out with.
- mentions
- 1
- recordings
- 1
- Barry speaking
- 0
What Barry says
Around his one year of college, at about 19, Barry met musicians on Detroit’s west side, among them Harold, Ray, Clarence and Bernard McKinney (Bernard being Kiane Zawadi), and began hanging out there.
Before he turned 21 Barry would go over to the west side with Harold and Ray McKinney, because he hung out with Ray. At the Blue Bird he would knock on the window, wait for the pianist to finish the song and go to the bar, run in to play a song and run straight out again.
In his own words
I used to go over to the west side with Harold McKinney, Ray McKinney, ‘cause I hung out with Ray.
I met some musicians on the west side, Harold McKinney, Ray McKinney, Clarence McKinney, Bernard McKinney, who was Kiane Zawadi, um, and then I started hanging on the west side.
We’d go over to the Blue Bird, I’d knock on the window... I’d run in and jump up on the piano and come and run right back out of there after the song
Every mention
1 moments in the recordings, 0 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 2:46
Someone else
A narrator’s roll of great bassists in a Detroit PBS special ends with ‘rain McKinney’, probably Ray.
In the interviews and notes
In his late teens, around his year at college, Barry met Harold, Ray, Clarence and Bernard McKinney (Kiane Zawadi) on Detroit’s west side and started spending time there.
Barry went to the west side with Harold and Ray McKinney, because he hung out with Ray. Under age, he would slip into the Blue Bird for a single song while the house pianist took a break; he celebrated his 21st birthday there.