When I finally got to meet up with McKinley Jackson it was at the home of his life long manager, Betty Slater. I arrived at Betty's house a little early, so got a chance to look through some records in the basement; Betty calls to tell me that he's at the front door.

In walks this tall, slender man, with grey hair in a long ponytail. We sit around for a while chatting about people we both know and as he feels more at ease his own story starts to unfold.

Very early on, I get the feeling that this is a sensitive, private man, that loves music, but not so much the lime light; something he confirms later.

He was born a raised in inner-city Detroit, and so is a true Detroiter, unlike many of the key people in the music industry there during the 60's and 70's, who were migrant.

School days were no great joy, as he was seen to be a little backward, his own words, by the teachers and other kids. All except for one, his music teacher at Jr High, Gordon Allen. 'Music saved my life'. His music teacher could see something others hadn't and encouraged him to take up the trombone.

Within a few years he was skipping school to go over to Motown and Golden World studios to play on sessions. Playing in the second on trombone or just banging on a tambourine he didn't care, and he was getting paid, $6 a session, a lot of money to a kid in Detroit in the mid sixties.

The first ever session he sat in on was Smokey Robinson's, "Ooo Baby, Baby", with Norman Whitfield directing the floor and Paul Riser on arrangements.

McKinley played trombone on the Marvelettes' classic "I'll Keep Holding On"

McKinley was a fast learner, and people around could see that he had natural rhythm. He used the time at Motown to develop his skills and never was worried that he got little in the way of credits for the work he did there. 'It was great, I got to work with some fabulous people and learnt so much'.

This become a general theme, as we went on, he was less concerned about credits and fanfare, he just loved making music.

The other thing that he appreciated during that period was that he met the three guys that influenced him most over his career, Gene Page, H B Barnum and Paul Riser.

music : "Go-Go-Girl" - Lee Rogers (D-Town 1067b)

Continued