McKinney's Cotton Pickers
Originally formed shortly after the end of World War I by drummer Bill McKinney (b. 17 September 1895, d. 14 October 1969), the band adopted their name in 1926. By this time McKinney was manager, having hired Cuba Austin to replace himself on the drums. Although geared towards harmless hokum, novelty songs and other aspects of currently popular entertainment, the arrival in 1927 of arranger Don Redman turned the band onto a jazz course. Among the many fine musicians who played in the band in its earlier years were Joe Smith, Doc Cheatham, Claude Jones and Fats Waller. Resident for several years at Detroit's Graystone Ballroom, promoter Jean Goldkette's flagship venue, the unit made a huge impression upon other bands and their arrangers. In 1931, Redman left, forming his own outfit from a nucleus of McKinney musicians. This was a blow from which the band never fully recovered. Even though several important jazzmen played in later editions, among them Benny Carter, who became its musical director, the glory days were over. Indeed, the band made no more records even though it stayed in existence for a few more years. McKinney managed to continue leading a band into the early '40s, but by then it was a shadow of what had gone before. During the four years of its supremacy, the Cotton Pickers established new standards towards which all later big bands would strive. Although history would later credit the period Don Redman spent with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra as being the start of big band music as it is known today, the arranger's work with this earlier band should not be overlooked. In particular, the lively, skilful manner in which they played Redman's arrangements suggest a band well ahead of its time and place in the story of big band jazz. McKinney himself remained only sporadically active in music for the rest of his life. A year or two after his death in 1969, a number of musicians from Detroit formed the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers, using Redman's and Carter's old scores for successful engagements at jazz festivals in America and Europe.