Two Influential Detroit Jazzmen Pass Away
BY LARS BJORN AND PIOTR MICHALOWSKI
June saw the passing of two jazz musicians
who played important, but different, roles in Detroit's jazz community.
Tenorist Joe Henderson lived in the city during a formative stage
of his career in the latter half of the 1950s, after which he went on
to become one of the major forces on his instrument. Pianist Harold
McKinney also spent some time on the national scene, but his base
was always Detroit where he was important as a player and a teacher.
oe
Henderson died on June 30th in San Francisco at age 64. He was born
in Lima, Ohio, and came to Detroit to attend Wayne (State) University
in 1956. During his four years in Detroit Henderson played with Hindal
Butts' quartet at Denny's Show Bar, Beans Bowles' group at Lavert's,
and Ernie Farrow's International Jazz Quartet at the Bohemian Club and
the Blue Bird. During 1959, his last full year in Detroit, Henderson
led his own group at the Blue Bird with Terry Pollard at the piano.
Detroit was also the place, in 1957, where Henderson first met John
Coltrane, to whom he often has been compared. Detroit provided Henderson
with a thorough schooling in the ins and outs of bebop, while he also
was experimenting with the new sounds coming on the scene. The records
he recorded for Blue Note in 1963-67 established him as one of the major
new voices on his instrument.
arold
McKinney died on June 20th at age 72 following a series of strokes.
A well-attended memorial service was held at Hartford Memorial Baptist
Church in Detroit three days later. Harold was a one of Detroit's great
performer-teachers who influenced numerous young players with the force
of his musical vision and personality. His musical vision incorporated
the varied musical experiences of his life: his early classical training
in his family home and more formally at Northwestern High School, Detroit
Conservatory of Music, Morehouse College, and Wayne State University;
his participation in Detroit bebop circles in the forties and fifties;
his articulation of the African American musical tradition as a leader
of groups like Creative Profile, Tribe, and the McKinney Reunion.
McKinney was active as a teacher throughout
his career, in recent years most noted for spearheading the "Jazz
for a New Generation" clinics at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz festivals.
In this unique educational program many members of the extended McKinney
family took audiences on a whirlwind tour of the whole African American
musical spectrum. The program nicely illustrated Harold's firm
grasp on almost anything from African drumming to ragtime or gospel
or modern jazz.
When the headlights of the jazz festival were
turned off he returned to his weekly gig for the last decade or so,
Thursday jam sessions at the SereNgeti ballroom. In this more intimate
setting he could give specific pointers to up and coming young jazz
players, in much the same fashion as he had been trained by more experienced
beboppers at the Club Sudan in the forties.
Harold was a formidable presence in the jazz
life of Detroit and he will be missed by many. There will be a tribute
to McKinney by the National Jazz Orchestra of Detroit at this year's
Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival. The performance is scheduled
for 3 pm Labor Day on the Waterfront stage. The same day, Jazz for a
New Generation will also be performed at noon on the Pyramid stage.
In the month of June we also lost Detroit's
most influential blues musician ever, John Lee Hooker, who died
in his home in San Francisco.
I
N - T H I S -
I S S U E :
1. BEFORE MOTOWN
- 2. JOE HENDERSON, HAROLD McKINNEY-
- 3. FORD DETROIT JAZZ FESTIVAL-
- 4. SEMJA CLINICS-
-5. AROUND TOWN
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