Andy McKee

Long based in New York, American double bassist Andy McKee has maintained an active career since the late 1970s on stages across North and South America, Europe and Japan. Born in Philadelphia in 1953, he began on piano and alto saxophone before turning to the double bass at 14 and studying with teachers such as Homer Mensch, Richard Davis and Al Stauffer. McKee received early influence from notable drummers like Philly Joe Jones, with whom he toured the United States and Canada in the late 1970s, and he made his first European tour with vibraphonist Walt Dickerson’s trio, documented on several live recordings. Settling in New York in 1980, he began a long collaboration with Elvin Jones and, from the mid-1980s, became the regular bassist of the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, appearing frequently at the Village Vanguard and on international tours. A stay in Paris in 1984 led to engagements with Chet Baker, Mal Waldron and Steve Grossman, followed by several years in the pianist Michel Petrucciani’s group alongside drummer Victor Jones, touring the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Returning to New York in the early 1990s, McKee spent a decade as one of the pillars of the Mingus Big Band, sometimes serving as musical director, while leading his own ensembles and co-founding the Latin‑jazz‑inflected Trio Mundo. His acoustic playing, rooted in the legacy of hard bop and the writing of Charles Mingus, is marked by a strong rhythmic emphasis, melodic work with the bow, and a close attention to the ensemble sound. In addition to sideman work with musicians such as Luis Bonilla and Peter Madsen, Andy McKee has taught double bass, improvisation and the Mingus repertoire at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music since 1993 and has published two pedagogical books with Hal Leonard: Jazz Bass on Top (2011) and 101 Upright Bass Tips (2014).