Susan Whitall
The Detroit News
The ultimate in concert notes
I saw an amazing thing this afternoon. A reporter colleague -- let him remain anonymous -- isn't on duty but took copious and complete notes on each show he saw.
When I asked if he knew the name of Harold McKinney's brother, who was up onstage with McKinfolks at the Absopure stage -- I'd only darted in for a few numbers -- he pulled out a small notebook like mine with detailed names, notes and songs.
Kiane Ziwadi, of course, is the name of McKinney's brother.
Why the notes? My colleague keeps a jazz "life list," of every concert he's seen, much as people keep a list of every bird they've seen.
During the McKinfolks set, Ziwadi said his brother Harold was nationally renowned, but "he didn't spend enough time in New York" to be as well-known as he deserved.
Ziwadi also said, "Thank you for naming a street after my brother."
I stuck around as McKinfolks did a wonderful rendition of Harold McKinney's "Ode to Africa," then split for another stage.
Watching Ziwadi along with Gayelynn McKinney on drums, it's wonderful to think about the musical lineage that goes back to one of Detroit's first and finest jazz bands, McKinney's Cottonpickers.
