Born: March 28, 1931 Died: August 3, 2004 Detroit

The great tenor saxophonist Lester “Pres” Young preferred bassists who, in his words, played plenty of “deep sea divers.” Deep sea divers are low notes, bottom notes, notes with meaty, deep, resonant tones. Pres wanted the bass to anchor the rhythm section, not play on top of it. Ray McKinney’s playing fitted firmly within Pres’ philosophy, for McKinney was a strong section man with a lot of bottom to his sound.

Raymond Patterson McKinney was born in Detroit on March 28, 1931, the fourth of ten children born to Bessie and Clarence McKinney. Ray worked with a variety of bands during his off-and-on stays in Manhattan, including a multi-month stay with Ghanaian drummer Guy Warren and a reunion with various Detroiters (including Barry Harris) at the Five Spot.(5) He also found work with older musicians, like tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and clarinetist Edmund Hall. “Those older cats liked the way I played,” McKinney remembered. His most significant musical association was with drummer Max Roach. McKinney and Roach first met while Ray was working with Guy Warren. “One night Max and Miles Davis came into the club,” he recalled. “Max dug my playing and tried to hire me, but I knew I wasn’t ready.” McKinney began an intense two-year period of intensive woodshedding – which, for Ray, meant taking breaks from practicing to eat and sleep. He cycled between New York and Detroit and got married, but soon settled in Manhattan on his own. McKinney and Roach met again, and Ray now felt confident enough to accept Max’s offer of employment. He spent over a year with Roach’s 1960 quintet, which comprised tenor saxophonist Walter Benton, trumpeter Booker Little, trombonist Julian Priester, McKinney and Roach. “Max was into different time signatures, like 5/4,” Ray remembered. “And he liked to play fast. He was amazed when he heard me play, because I could keep the tempos, keep up with him. My tempo thing was like greased lightening.” Roach’s group was slated to record for Candid under vocalist Abbey Lincoln’s name in February 1961. Roach added tenor colossus Coleman Hawkins, pianist Mal Waldron and reedman Eric Dolphy to his group. During the date, Charles Mingus arrived with one of his compositions and distributed the music. Hawkins had been drinking and had some difficulty playing the number. “He finally just packed up his horn and his scotch and split,” Ray remembered. Hawk wasn’t the only musician having problems with the music. “I didn’t understand how to play the bass part, which involved bowing tenths,” McKinney explained. “Mingus showed me how to play it, and that was a delicious revelation. But I didn’t dig the overall feel of the piece – it was in ‘free style’, cats going every which way – and I said so. So, they kicked me off the date and brought in Art Davis.” Hawkins returned to the studio later that day and made the date. Mingus’ number was not recorded.