Harold McKinney - 1974 - Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile

Harold McKinney

1974

Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile

01. Ode To Africa 9:06

02. Heavenese 5:47

03. Out Of The Blues 5:55

04. In The Moog 2:14

05. Corner Stone 4:33

06. Freedom Jazz Dance 6:12

07. Dolphin Dance 7:17

Harold McKinney - (leader, piano, vocals)

Gwen McKinney - (vocals)

Marcus Belgrave - (trumpet)

Wendell Harrison - (flute)

Darryl Dybka - (moog)

Ed Pickins - (bass)

Ron Jackson - (drums)

Billy Turner- (percussion)

Charles Miles - (congas)

Vocals [Voice] – Clarence McKinney, Ed Gooch, Eileen Cohill, Faye Blakely, Jenine Jackson, Sylvia Turner

Vocals, Flute – Carol Taylor

Harold McKinney was one of the leading musicians in the Detroit jazz scene for over sixty years. As a child, he first took classical lessons with his mother Bessie Walon McKinney, an organist, but it wasn’t long before he fell under the influence of Charlie Parker's music and he turned his attention to jazz. After graduating from Northwestern High School, McKinney attended Morehouse College in Atlanta and, after returning to Detroit, he studied briefly at Wayne State University before going to Germany to undertake military service. After returning to the United States he worked with a wide range of jazz folk including Roy Brooks, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. But it was with his association with Marcus Belgrave, Wendell Harrison and Phil Ranelin that McKinney is most fondly remembered, especially by the jazz community of Detroit. It was as part of the Tribe Artists' Association that McKinney found a new voice at a critical time. A voice that resulted in one of the prime releases on the Tribe record label, one of the leading black label collectives of the 1970s, along with Strata East and Black Jazz.

Tribe was not only a record label, it also published a magazine that focused on music, politics and topical cultural issues relevant to the black community. Tribe’s musical span covered a wide range of styles: soul, bebop, hard- and post-bop, modal, funk, groove jazz, vocals, avant-garde improvisations, and so on. Amongst this diverse palette was Harold McKinney’s debut album as leader ‘Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile’ released in 1974.

According to McKinney, the album “was my first recorded music publication. Produced in the early 1970s, it was designed to introduce some of my various skills to the world music market and to showcase some of varieties of instrumentation and singers available in the Detroit area, including members of my own family.”

Focusing on some of the tracks on the album, McKinney explained the ideas that inspired several of his compositions.

“‘In the Moog’ acknowledges my growing awareness of the musical possibilities inherent in the use of electronic instruments and technology which was finding expression in the music of major recording artists like Miles Davis. ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’ is a piece written by Eddie Harris, and it inspired me to write lyrics that spoke to the spirit of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The late jazz vocalist Eddie Jefferson incorporated my lyrics in his hit recording of the composition in an album done for Columbia Records just before his death.

‘Ode to Africa’ was a composition I wrote during the early 1970s, a time when I, along with other African Americans, became conscious of our African heritage. The song celebrated a new sense of worth and dignity acquired when I became aware of how significant my African American and African ancestors were in the history of the development of world civilisation. It also urges others to become aware of that heritage.”

Considered one of the most important mentors of jazz in Detroit, McKinney worked as a music educator and held classes and workshops at the Detroit Serengeti Ballroom. He also created jazz programs at Oakland University and Wayne State University, delivered his programs in public schools and various festivals, taught at the Metro Arts Center and numerous summer youth programs, and produced a weekly jazz workshop called Detroit Jazz Heritage Performance Lab (DJHPL). In 1994 McKinney and his band The Jazz Masters went on a tour through Africa and the Middle East.

Sadly, in May 2001, McKinney suffered a stroke, and died the following month.

One of the most righteous albums ever issued by the always-righteous Tribe Records label of Detroit – a really collective effort, one that features ensemble vocals and spiritual jazz – all pulled together by pianist Harold McKinney!

The album showcases a group named Voices Of The Creative Profile – formed by McKinney to accompany his Creative Profile instrumental group – and the overall style is a great blend of spiritual soul jazz that gives equal time to the voices and instruments in the set. Gwen McKinney heads up the vocal ensemble, and other players on the set include Wendell Harrison on flute, Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Billy Turner on percussion, and Ed Pickins on bass. Also features some cool moog from Darryl Dybka

Harold McKinney was one of Detroit's jazz legends as both an artist and as a cultural figure. His Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile was issued on the city's cooperative independent Tribe label -- which also boasted outings from Marcus Belgrave, Doug Hammond, Mixed Bag, Wendell Harrison, and Phil Ranelin -- in 1974. McKinney's approach to jazz in the 1970s may have been funky and electric, but it was also idiosyncratic and vocal. Harold and Gwen McKinney handle the lead vocals, while a backing chorus of seven helps out on other pieces. This is an adventurous set, and along with his deep, funky electric piano grooves is a killer alternately swinging and soulful horn section fueled by Harrison and Belgrave, drummer Ron Jackson, percussionists Charles Miles and Billy Turner, as well as bassist Ed Pickins and Daryl Dybka on Moog! The highlights of the set are the stunning "Out of These Blues" with McKinney's Rhodes underscoring beautiful head and solo work by the horns, the stomping bop meets science fiction of "Corner Stone," and fine covers of Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance" and Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance" (with a set of lyrics by McKinney). Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile walks many tightropes: between hard bop and soul-jazz, between vanguard jazz and fusion, and between swinging blues and raw adventure. It's true that the vocals can be a bit excessive at times, especially on the opener, "Ode to Africa," but they are more than compensated for by the phenomenal playing of the ensemble. Ultimately, this is a solid recording that embodies the entire spirit of the Detroit jazz scene at the time. The P-Vine reissue on CD contains two bonus tracks, the A- and B-sides of McKinney's "Ode to Africa" b/w "Jelly Loa" 45 on Juba.