McKinney was born into a family of ten children, several of whom also became musicians. He is the uncle of R&B producer and jazz pianist
Carlos "Los Da Mystro" McKinney. He first worked with
Barry Harris and
Sonny Stitt in 1951, and played with
Alvin Jackson's band early in the decade. Toward the middle of the 1950s he was with
Art Blakey, and he moved with
Yusef Lateef to New York City in 1959. In the 1960s he played with
Illinois Jacquet,
James Moody, and
Curtis Fuller. Later that decade he adopted the name Kiane Zawadi. In the 1970s he performed with
Archie Shepp,
Carlos Garnett,
Harold Vick,
Frank Foster,
Charles Tolliver,
Abdullah Ibrahim, and
McCoy Tyner. In 1978, he played in the
pit orchestra for ''
Dancin''', a
Broadway show. He appeared at a
Charlie Parker tribute at Town Hall in New York City in 1985. Other musicians Zawadi worked with include
Mongo Santamaría,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Clark Terry,
Joe Henderson, and
Aretha Franklin. McKinney died in
Brooklyn, New York, on May 21, 2024, at the age of 91. ==Discography==