Album Notes

Saxman Darron McKinney is a Police Officer for the Detroit Public School District Police. In the 1980s, he majored in criminal justice and jazz studies at Southern University in Baton Rouge La, under Jazz Master Alvin Batiste of New Orleans. After Leaving Louisiana, he returned to Detroit, quicklly getting back into the mainstream. Among the artist he has shared the stage with are Dr.Billy Taylor,Jimmy Heath, Dizzie Gillespie, Roy Ayers, Betty"BEBOP"Carter,Joe Sample,Cuba Gooding Sr, Regina Belle, Mikki Howard and Waymen Tisdale. Luther Jackson of 7 MILE makes a guest appearance on McKinney's cd entitled A Call To Courage, on a tune entitled "Never Alone". McKinney and his Brother Nathan wrote the songs recorded on this project. McKinney comes from a musical family, he has ten siblings and was born and raised in Detroit Michigan. McKinney caught the attention of people nationwide when he gave a riveting performance of his original song, "A Call to Courage," at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial candlelight vigil on May 13, 2001, in Washington, D.C. The song was a tribute to slain police officers and their families. The song features vocals by Nichelle Colvin and has gained in significance after the September 11, 2001 attacks, a coincidence that McKinney finds prophetic--especially since he was invited to perform the song before 18,000 people in Washington, DC nearly 4 months to the day before the attacks occurred. What is even more ironic to McKinney is that he performed the song approximately a half-mile from where the plane would strike the Pentagon But God goes ahead of us says McKinney. Several branches of the US armed services have now picked up on the song and have used it as a rallying point of sorts, and it is even being broadcast on the Pentagon Network around the world. Many cable and educational TV stations have also begun broadcasting the video footage of McKinney's performance of the song that day in Washington, D.C. including Comcast cable in the Detroit area. While McKinney is, in his words, "humbled " by the widespread acceptance the song has received, he states that his initial aim was merely to let his fellow officers know that they were loved and appreciated, a fact that many do not realize until it is too late.