Russell McKinney is the bass trombonist of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1989. He is also active as a freelance musician in Utah including work in TV, movies, and jazz. Before coming to Utah, he was bass trombonist of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra during the 1988-89 season as a sabbatical replacement, participating in all activities including tours and recordings with the Grammy Award winning orchestra. He has held positions with the Chattanooga Symphony and the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra, the faculty orchestra of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC. He has served as a substitute musician with both the Baltimore Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., as well as the Kennedy Center Orchestra of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

In the fall of 2005 Russell was appointed Director of Low Brass Studies of the Horne School of Music at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. Shortly thereafter in January 2006, he was appointed Assistant Lecturer of Bass Trombone at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  Previously, he has held adjunct teaching positions at The University of Utah's School of Music, Westminster College in Salt Lake City and at Southern College, Collegedale, TN and Lee College in Cleveland, TN. He was the bass trombone instructor and chamber music coach at the Eastern Music Festival from 1984 to 1988.

Russell built a maintained a successful trombone studio at  the University of Utah from 1995-2005. As Adjunct Associate Professor of  Music, he taught both education and performance majors on tenor and bass trombones.  He is a specialist in "upstream" embouchures on low brass instruments, being an "upstreamer" himself. His undergraduate students have gone on to pursue graduate degrees at such institutions as New England Conservatory, The Longy School in Boston, The Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. His students have gone on to positions in the President's Own Marine Band in Washington, D.C., the Gulf Coast Orchestra in Florida, The Orchestra at Temple Square, and to substitute with the Utah Symphony, The Virginia Symphony, The Jackonsville Symphony and other professional orchestras and bands across the country.

Russell has been featured as soloist with the University of Utah's Wind Symphony and the Utah Youth Symphony. He has also appeared as soloist with the Peabody Wind Ensemble and with the Greensboro Concert Band. He has presented solo recitals and master classes at Ithaca College, (Ithaca, NY), Idaho State University (Pocatello), and Snow College, (Ephraim, UT). He also appeared with the Utah Symphony Trombone Section in a master class given at the1998 International Trombone Festival in Boulder, CO.

Russell is the founder and Music Director of UUTE, which began at the University of Utah, but is now  Utah's Ultimate Trombone Ensemble and makes it home at the First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City. UUTE's membership comes from area professionals as well as the top student talent from music schools in the Salt Lake Valley.  Russell is also a member of the newly formed trombone quartet Utah Trombone Authority (UTA) along with his colleagues, Jim Nova, assistant principal trombonist of the Utah Symphony, Will Kimball, Assistant Professor of trombone at Brigham Young University, and Mark Ammons, Assistant Director of the School of Music and Jazz Division Coordinator at BYU.

Russell attended the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD receiving several awards including Peabody's Gustav Klemm Award for exemplary work in his chosen field of study, Trombone Performance. He also received orchestral and chamber music training at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, NY, as a Bellinger Orchestra scholarship student in the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra.

Russell is the Music Director at the historic First Presbyterian Church in downtown Salt Lake City. He had a successful tenure from 1998-2003 in a similar capacity as Music Director of Mount Tabor Lutheran Church, ELCA prior to this appointment.