Gayelynn Mckinney

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I was first exposed to jazz... before I was born. My parents were musicians. My mother was an opera singer and my father was a jazz pianist. My mother also performed in productions like, "Carman" and "Porgy And Bess." When she met my father, he brought her into the world of jazz. I woke up every morning to the sound of my mother singing and my father playing the piano. My father's piano playing and my mother's singing was an interesting mix of Opera and Jazz piano. :-D lol. My mother and father did a lot of performing as a duo for many years. Later on, he joined a collective of musicians and they formed a record Lable called, "Tribe." They produced several albums under that label. Needles to say, my path was set to perform and produce music for a living. I perform mostly jazz and I love jazz because of the freedom to improvise, within the structure of the music. However, my father always told me not to put myself in a box, listen and learn all styles of music. Dad had an extensive record collection, he had everything from Debussy, Beatles, Aretha, Miles to Pink Floyed. I sat with my ear close to the stereo, so I could hear everything that was happening in the music. Learning different styles of music has made my career very interesting and gratifying.

I've done house concerts with a community in Detroit called, Palmer Woods. The concerts are always well attended and because of the intimacy of playing in a house, the experience of being up close and personal is appreciated by the audience as well as the artists. One of the most exciting house concerts I performed at was a fund raiser for presidential hopeful, Hilary Clinton. I was performing with Aretha Franklin. The people there were very happy to be up close and personal with these two legendary women.

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