Andy McKee

Jazz bassist Andy McKee is really a journeyman performer, educator, and bandleader using a bevy of credits to his name. A Philadelphia indigenous, McKee began learning piano and saxophone, ultimately buying the bass in his teenagers. By his twenties he was touring European countries with Walt Dickerson, and in 1979 he became a member of drummer Philly Joe Jones for schedules within the U.S. and Canada. In the first ’80s McKee relocated to NEW YORK, where he started a longtime association with drummer Elvin Jones. This resulted in stints in European countries with luminaries like Chet Baker, Mal Waldron, Michel Petrucciani, among others. Returning to NY in the first ’90s, McKee became a member of the Mingus Big Music group, with which he’d work with over a decade, showing up albums like Nostalgia in Situations Square (1993), Gunslinging Parrot (1995), Que Viva Mingus! (1997), and Blues & Politics (1990). He also constructed a steady set of sideman credits during this time period, showing up on recordings by Steve Grossman, the Jack port Wilkins-Kenny Drew Quartet, Hank Jones, among others. Since 1993 McKee provides trained at New York’s New College for Jazz and Modern Music. Being a head, McKee produced his debut in 1997 with Audio Root base, alongside Ed Cherry, Alex Foster, Ryan Kisor, and Billy Kilson. Then came back in 2002 with One Globe, which featured performances from Foster, Idris Muhammad, Joe Locke, Badal Roy, Milton Cardona, and Kenny Werner. Also during this time period, he recorded many albums using the Latin jazz clothing Trio Mundo, gaining a Grammy nomination for 2002’s Carnaval. In 2013 he collaborated with an all-star band of music artists including René Bottlang, Oliver Lake, Vic Juris, and Billy Hart on Fall months in NY. The following yr he made an appearance on arranger Jack port Cooper’s huge ensemble documenting Mists: Charles Ives for Jazz Orchestra on World Arts Records.