McKinney's Cotton Pickers
McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an
American jazz band founded in
1926 by
William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten pieces. In
1927 Don Redman left
Fletcher Henderson's orchestra to become the Cotton Pickers' musical director, and he assembled a band which rivalled Henderson's and
Duke Ellington's. In
1931 Redman left to form his own band and was replaced by
Benny Carter. The Cotton Pickers disbanded in
1934, unable to make money during the
Depression.