Purple pros:

Kendrick McKinney assembles group of local and national musicians to pay tribute to Prince

Kaleb Gonzalez

Contributing Writer

A group of 17 Oklahoma musicians will perform music by Prince at 7 p.m. Friday at Oklahoma City’s Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St., to pay tribute to his legacy and impact on music. The performance begins at 8 p.m.

Producer, writer, and musician Kendrick McKinney said he contacted world-class musicians for the upcoming concert, including members of the Grammy-winning jazz-fusion group Snarky Puppy.

“We have guys like Mark Lettieri, who is a part of Snarky Puppy, and Steve Pruitt, who are world-class musicians who have traveled all over the world,” McKinney said.

“A Tribute to the Purple One” has been a long time in the making. McKinney started talking about a Prince tribute several years ago, and it is finally coming to the stage.

“Doing a show like this is something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I had to have the right people around me to pull this off, because the music is very hard and specific to learn,” McKinney said.

Musician Alex Jones said that McKinney and production manager Garrison Brown intend to present the show with the respect for Prince and his music.

“McKinney is the biggest Prince fan I’ve ever met, and I know that he is going to respect and give Prince the utmost respect towards his music and his attitude towards music. I know he will do this tribute right,” Jones said.

McKinney and Brown are childhood friends who grew up learning music together. Prince has always been a significant part of their lives.

“My dad was a Prince fanatic, and I grew up listening to Prince from the time I was born. Garrison and I grew up listening to this kind of music, and we have been talking about doing a show like this for at least 10 years. I couldn’t do this show without him,” McK- inney said.

Jones said Oklahoma City is a great city to host events like “A Tribute to the Purple One” that bring the community together through music.

“Just as Prince would say, “rock ‘n’ roll is alive”, and it lives in Oklahoma City. I think that events like this play a big role in bringing people together through music and culture and open the door for future events like this,” Jones said.

The musicians and vocalists of the concert include vocalists Adam Aguilar, Thunder Jackson, Chase McCumber, Chanda Graham, Freddie Noel, and Myra Beasley; guitarists Lettieri and Brown; bassist Wes Stephenson, drummer Steve Pruitt; percussionist Mike Mosteller; McKinney on piano and organ; keyboardist Jones; saxophonists Vince Norman and Trevor Galvin, trumpeter Ryan Sharp and trombonist Zac Lee.

Visit towertheatreokc. com.