SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
FALL, 2019
VOLUME SEVEN NUMBER THREE
MAX ROACH
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
BEN WEBSTER
(September 7-13)
GENE AMMONS
(September 14-20)
TADD DAMERON
(September 21-27)
ROY ELDRIDGE
(September 28-October 4)
MILT JACKSON
(October 5-11)
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN
(October 12-18)
GRANT GREEN
(October 19-25)
ROY HARGROVE
(October 26-November 1)
LITTLE JIMMY SCOTT
(November 2-8)
BLUE MITCHELL
(NOVEMBER 9-15) BLUE MITCHELL
BOOKER ERVIN
(November 16-22)
LUCKY THOMPSON
(November 23-29)
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blue-mitchell-mn0000761064/biography
When Silver disbanded, Mitchell's spinoff quintet carried on with Al Foster replacing Brooks and a young future star named Chick Corea in the piano chair. This group, with several personnel changes, continued until 1969, recording a string of albums for Blue Note. Probably aware that opportunities for playing straight-ahead jazz were dwindling, Mitchell became a prolific pop and soul session man in the late '60s, and he toured with Ray Charles from 1969 to 1971 and blues/rock guitarist John Mayall in 1971-1973. Having settled in Los Angeles, he also played big-band dates with Louie Bellson, Bill Holman, and Bill Berry; made a number of funk and pop/jazz LPs in the late '70s; served as principal soloist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne; and kept his hand in hard bop by playing with Harold Land in a quintet. He continued to freelance in this multifaceted fashion until his premature death from cancer at age 49.
Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell (trumpet) was born on March 13, 1930 in Miami, Florida and passed away on May 21, 1979 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 49.
Mitchell took the nickname “Blue” in high school. Mitchell’s mother reportedly hoped to have a musician in the family, but her son only took up the trumpet to join his high school band at age 17.
The teenaged trumpeter came into music during the dawning days of bebop: he cited Dizzy Gillespies Shaw ‘Nuff, recorded in 1945, as an early influence, but he credited Dick Smothers, a Miami trumpeter and bandleader, as the inspiration for the lyricism that became his signature.
Like most young jazz musicians in the late forties, he idolized Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and began to play their tunes with bassist Sam Jones in a Miami Beach club, Jones and Mitchell would make six recordings together, including Something In Common, two years before Blue’s death.
While playing with a group in Tallahassee in 1948, Mitchell met saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. At this time, Mitchell worked primarily with rhythm and blues bandleaders, such as Paul Williams, Earl Bostic, and Chuck Willis. In Bostic’s band, he met Benny Golson, with whom he would later work closely.
Later that year, Mitchell returned to Miami, where he auditioned for Riverside Records producer Orrin Keepnews, who signed him to the label. He moved to New York, where he recorded Portrait of Cannonball, and began to record as a leader.
Big 6 (1958) is the first of Mitchell’s albums for Riverside.
On these tracks, Mitchell stays mostly in the middle of his register, demonstrating an impeccable sense of time on heartfelt and straightforward ballads. Big 6 includes fine work by trombonist Curtis Fuller, a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, drummer Philly Joe Jones, and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Griffin.
Mitchell’s lyricism was rounder and more restrained than that of Clifford Brown, the leading trumpeter of bebop’s second generation, who died in 1956 at age 25. Brown set the example for virtually every trumpet player in Mitchell’s generation, including Lee Morgan, Bill Hardman, and Donald Byrd, who sought to combine the virtuosity of early bebop with the listenability and soulfulness of rhythm and blues.
In 1958, Mitchell also joined pianist Horace Silver’s quintet, where he stayed until 1964. Mitchell was definitely right for the group: his lyricism complemented Silver’s simplified, sometimes whimsical heads, on tunes such as the easy-going Strollin’ and the light, shotgun-tempo Nica’s Dream from Horace-Scope. He was generally at his best in a relaxed setting, and on ballads. He was also a perfect foil for tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, who shared his sense of melody.
Mitchell learned from Silver’s Cape Verdean-influenced repertoire and high standards for sidemen. Silver recorded only two albums a year, and set a high bar for his sessions. Mitchell followed this example with his own groups.
Pianist Wynton Kelly played with Mitchell on almost all of his Riverside sessions. Kelly also appears with eighteen-year-old trumpeter Lee Morgan on I Remember Clifford. Benny Golson’s elegy for the trumpeter who inspired their generation.
Overall, Mitchell’s four years with Riverside solidified his talent, and gave many of his young contemporaries opportunities for studio work. A number of them – Cedar Walton, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, and Horace Silver – belonged at different points to The Jazz Messengers. Blakey’s group was an incubator for some of the era’s best young jazz talent, without whom the Riverside recordings would not have been possible.
In 1959, one month after Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, Mitchell recorded Blue Soul for Riverside, adding Jimmy Heath on tenor saxophone and his old friend Sam Jones on bass. Mitchell picked up some of Davis’s figures on the uptempo Minor Vamp, which is nicely punctuated by tight kicks from Jones. His technique on this album has noticeably improved, with upper register notes and “sung” ballad lines played confidently.
In 1960, Mitchell departed from his intimate quintet setting to record Smooth as the Wind, orchestrated for trumpet and strings and conducted by Benny Golson. He later admitted that the session was nerve-wracking for him, possibly because of the size and orchestration of the band, and plays less evenly than on other albums. He does however do justice to the two Todd Dameron tunes on the record.
In 1962, Mitchell took his companions from Silver’s band – tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Roy Brooks – into the studio with pianist Cedar Walton to record The Cup Bearers for Riverside. On these tracks, his timbre is lovely, whether on the light swing of Why Do I Love You? or his bittersweet reading of How Deep is the Ocean, one of his finest recorded ballads.
Mitchell left Silver in 1964, then recorded The Thing To Do for Blue Note, his first session as a leader for the label. The album’s tracks, which include the young Chick Corea’s nimble and adventurous solo on the calypso-like Fungii Mama, were refined and tightened in eight separate performances before they were recorded. “I got that from Horace,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell’s albums in the late sixties and early seventies for Blue Note and Mainstream moved into soul jazz, perhaps trying to keep pace with the era’s listening public. The output was uneven, but his albums with alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson stand out, among them Midnight Creeper, with George Benson, recorded for Blue Note in 1968.
After leaving Blue Note, Mitchell freelanced. He toured from 1969 to 1971 with Ray Charles, and then from 1971 to 1973 with guitarist John Mayall. In the mid-seventies, he did dates with the big bands of Louis Bellson, Bill Holman, and Bill Berry. He also soloed with Lena Horne and Tony Bennett, and worked with tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca.
It is perhaps fitting that Mitchell’s last work was with the hard-driving, Coltranesque Harold Land/Blue Mitchell Quintet from 1975 to 1978, with whom he recorded Mapenzi in 1977. It was the next step forward from the hard bop sound he loved, and helped shape.
Cancer forced Mitchell to retire from playing in October of 1978, He died on May 21, 1979 in Los Angeles, California at age 49.
Jimmy Heath perhaps sums up best how many musicians felt about Mitchell: “I think Blue Mitchell was one of the most melodic players of his generation.”
He would sign to Bob Shad’s Mainstream label in 1970. What followed was this CD, a sort of acoustic jazz album with sax man, Jimmy Forrest, that still included plenty of soul, that was helped by the additional contributions from the likes of pianist Walter Bishop Jr., Doug Sides on drums an Larry Gales on bass.
Highlights include the beautiful Soul Village which is melodic and musical with effective uses of minor chords that drags you into a hypnotic groove but also Mi Hermano which is an incessant, relentless back beat interrupted by brass flirtations.
This often mesmerising album might only be five tracks long but it offers some of the most beautiful arrangements seen from this period of jazz. An album that you can easily lose yourself in.
Blue was the perfect nickname for Richard Mitchell. Bright or soft, his tone had a wistfulness about it, and his improvisations inclined toward the harmonic implications of the blues even when he worked with sophisticated material. His trademarks were calm, assurance, and relaxation. They were welcome in an era heavily populated with trumpet players bent on exploiting the instrument’s capacity for bravura proclamation.
Mitchell was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He began playing trumpet in high school, where he acquired his nickname, Blue.[1]
After high school, he played in the rhythm and blues ensembles of Paul Williams, Earl Bostic, and Chuck Willis. After returning to Miami he was noticed by Cannonball Adderley, with whom he recorded for Riverside Records in New York in 1958.
He then joined the Horace Silver Quintet, playing with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Roy Brooks. Mitchell stayed with Silver's group until the band's break-up in 1964, after which he formed a group with members from the Silver quintet, substituting the young pianist Chick Corea for Silver and replacing Brooks, who had fallen ill, with drummer Al Foster. This group produced a number of records for Blue Note. It disbanded in 1969, after which Mitchell joined and toured with Ray Charles until 1971.
From 1971 to 1973 Mitchell performed with John Mayall, appearing on Jazz Blues Fusion and subsequent albums. From the mid-70s he recorded and worked as a session man in the genres noted previously, performed with the big band leaders Louie Bellson, Bill Holman, and Bill Berry and was the principal soloist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne. Other band leaders Mitchell recorded with include Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Johnny Griffin, Al Cohn, Dexter Gordon, and Jimmy Smith. Blue Mitchell kept his hard-bop playing going with the Harold Land quintet up until his death from cancer on May 21, 1979, in Los Angeles, at the age of 49.[2]
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blue-mitchell-mn0000761064/biography
Blue Mitchell
(1930-1979)
Artist Biography by Richard S. Ginell
Owner of a direct, lightly swinging, somewhat plain-wrapped tone that fit right in with the Blue Note label's hard bop ethos of the 1960s, Blue Mitchell tends to be overlooked today perhaps because he never really stood out vividly from the crowd, despite his undeniable talent. After learning the trumpet in high school -- where he got his nickname -- he started touring in the early '50s with the R&B bands of Paul Williams, Earl Bostic, and Chuck Willis before returning to Miami and jazz. There, he attracted the attention of Cannonball Adderley, with whom he recorded for Riverside in 1958. That year, he joined the Horace Silver Quintet, with whom he played and recorded until the band's breakup in March 1964, polishing his hard bop skills. During his Silver days, Mitchell worked with tenor Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, drummer Roy Brooks, and various pianists as a separate unit and continued recording as a leader for Riverside.
When Silver disbanded, Mitchell's spinoff quintet carried on with Al Foster replacing Brooks and a young future star named Chick Corea in the piano chair. This group, with several personnel changes, continued until 1969, recording a string of albums for Blue Note. Probably aware that opportunities for playing straight-ahead jazz were dwindling, Mitchell became a prolific pop and soul session man in the late '60s, and he toured with Ray Charles from 1969 to 1971 and blues/rock guitarist John Mayall in 1971-1973. Having settled in Los Angeles, he also played big-band dates with Louie Bellson, Bill Holman, and Bill Berry; made a number of funk and pop/jazz LPs in the late '70s; served as principal soloist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne; and kept his hand in hard bop by playing with Harold Land in a quintet. He continued to freelance in this multifaceted fashion until his premature death from cancer at age 49.
Biography
Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell (trumpet) was born on March 13, 1930 in Miami, Florida and passed away on May 21, 1979 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 49.
Mitchell took the nickname “Blue” in high school. Mitchell’s mother reportedly hoped to have a musician in the family, but her son only took up the trumpet to join his high school band at age 17.
The teenaged trumpeter came into music during the dawning days of bebop: he cited Dizzy Gillespies Shaw ‘Nuff, recorded in 1945, as an early influence, but he credited Dick Smothers, a Miami trumpeter and bandleader, as the inspiration for the lyricism that became his signature.
Like most young jazz musicians in the late forties, he idolized Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and began to play their tunes with bassist Sam Jones in a Miami Beach club, Jones and Mitchell would make six recordings together, including Something In Common, two years before Blue’s death.
While playing with a group in Tallahassee in 1948, Mitchell met saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. At this time, Mitchell worked primarily with rhythm and blues bandleaders, such as Paul Williams, Earl Bostic, and Chuck Willis. In Bostic’s band, he met Benny Golson, with whom he would later work closely.
Later that year, Mitchell returned to Miami, where he auditioned for Riverside Records producer Orrin Keepnews, who signed him to the label. He moved to New York, where he recorded Portrait of Cannonball, and began to record as a leader.
Big 6 (1958) is the first of Mitchell’s albums for Riverside.
On these tracks, Mitchell stays mostly in the middle of his register, demonstrating an impeccable sense of time on heartfelt and straightforward ballads. Big 6 includes fine work by trombonist Curtis Fuller, a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, drummer Philly Joe Jones, and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Griffin.
Mitchell’s lyricism was rounder and more restrained than that of Clifford Brown, the leading trumpeter of bebop’s second generation, who died in 1956 at age 25. Brown set the example for virtually every trumpet player in Mitchell’s generation, including Lee Morgan, Bill Hardman, and Donald Byrd, who sought to combine the virtuosity of early bebop with the listenability and soulfulness of rhythm and blues.
In 1958, Mitchell also joined pianist Horace Silver’s quintet, where he stayed until 1964. Mitchell was definitely right for the group: his lyricism complemented Silver’s simplified, sometimes whimsical heads, on tunes such as the easy-going Strollin’ and the light, shotgun-tempo Nica’s Dream from Horace-Scope. He was generally at his best in a relaxed setting, and on ballads. He was also a perfect foil for tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, who shared his sense of melody.
Mitchell learned from Silver’s Cape Verdean-influenced repertoire and high standards for sidemen. Silver recorded only two albums a year, and set a high bar for his sessions. Mitchell followed this example with his own groups.
Pianist Wynton Kelly played with Mitchell on almost all of his Riverside sessions. Kelly also appears with eighteen-year-old trumpeter Lee Morgan on I Remember Clifford. Benny Golson’s elegy for the trumpeter who inspired their generation.
Overall, Mitchell’s four years with Riverside solidified his talent, and gave many of his young contemporaries opportunities for studio work. A number of them – Cedar Walton, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, and Horace Silver – belonged at different points to The Jazz Messengers. Blakey’s group was an incubator for some of the era’s best young jazz talent, without whom the Riverside recordings would not have been possible.
In 1959, one month after Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, Mitchell recorded Blue Soul for Riverside, adding Jimmy Heath on tenor saxophone and his old friend Sam Jones on bass. Mitchell picked up some of Davis’s figures on the uptempo Minor Vamp, which is nicely punctuated by tight kicks from Jones. His technique on this album has noticeably improved, with upper register notes and “sung” ballad lines played confidently.
In 1960, Mitchell departed from his intimate quintet setting to record Smooth as the Wind, orchestrated for trumpet and strings and conducted by Benny Golson. He later admitted that the session was nerve-wracking for him, possibly because of the size and orchestration of the band, and plays less evenly than on other albums. He does however do justice to the two Todd Dameron tunes on the record.
In 1962, Mitchell took his companions from Silver’s band – tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Roy Brooks – into the studio with pianist Cedar Walton to record The Cup Bearers for Riverside. On these tracks, his timbre is lovely, whether on the light swing of Why Do I Love You? or his bittersweet reading of How Deep is the Ocean, one of his finest recorded ballads.
Mitchell left Silver in 1964, then recorded The Thing To Do for Blue Note, his first session as a leader for the label. The album’s tracks, which include the young Chick Corea’s nimble and adventurous solo on the calypso-like Fungii Mama, were refined and tightened in eight separate performances before they were recorded. “I got that from Horace,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell’s albums in the late sixties and early seventies for Blue Note and Mainstream moved into soul jazz, perhaps trying to keep pace with the era’s listening public. The output was uneven, but his albums with alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson stand out, among them Midnight Creeper, with George Benson, recorded for Blue Note in 1968.
After leaving Blue Note, Mitchell freelanced. He toured from 1969 to 1971 with Ray Charles, and then from 1971 to 1973 with guitarist John Mayall. In the mid-seventies, he did dates with the big bands of Louis Bellson, Bill Holman, and Bill Berry. He also soloed with Lena Horne and Tony Bennett, and worked with tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca.
It is perhaps fitting that Mitchell’s last work was with the hard-driving, Coltranesque Harold Land/Blue Mitchell Quintet from 1975 to 1978, with whom he recorded Mapenzi in 1977. It was the next step forward from the hard bop sound he loved, and helped shape.
Cancer forced Mitchell to retire from playing in October of 1978, He died on May 21, 1979 in Los Angeles, California at age 49.
Jimmy Heath perhaps sums up best how many musicians felt about Mitchell: “I think Blue Mitchell was one of the most melodic players of his generation.”
CD Title: Blue Mitchell
Label: Boplicity
Born in Florida, Blue Mitchell was most active and
noticeable during the 50s when he was a successful member of Horace
Silver’s quintet. He had a soulful trumpet sound that promoted the
soul-jazz sub-genre. In fact, many other artists, looking to explore
this sector around 1958-1964, would look towards Mitchell for guidance.
Blue Note always had their eye on Mitchell. In
fact, when Silver disbanded his group, Mitchell was immediately signed
up to the label. The result was a productive series of Blue Note albums
that were, in many respects, multi-layered producing music that was
easily accessible and music that was quite complex in its structure. It
was as if Mitchell was searching for a way to reach his audience but
also holding no qualms about exploring other genres that he could use
within his own ouvre. Maybe this was why he joined both the Ray Charles
Orchestra and later John Mayall.
He would sign to Bob Shad’s Mainstream label in 1970. What followed was this CD, a sort of acoustic jazz album with sax man, Jimmy Forrest, that still included plenty of soul, that was helped by the additional contributions from the likes of pianist Walter Bishop Jr., Doug Sides on drums an Larry Gales on bass.
Highlights include the beautiful Soul Village which is melodic and musical with effective uses of minor chords that drags you into a hypnotic groove but also Mi Hermano which is an incessant, relentless back beat interrupted by brass flirtations.
This often mesmerising album might only be five tracks long but it offers some of the most beautiful arrangements seen from this period of jazz. An album that you can easily lose yourself in.
Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell - Episode 1
Unlike
many jazz players, Blue Mitchell was able to move back and forth
between jazz field and rhythm and blues during his career. His 1st
recording with Cannonball Adderley introduced him to the public and his
late 1950’s albums as leader established him as one of the most lyrical
of the hard bop trumpet players. His resume includes playing in bands
led by Earl Bostic and Horace Silver. He also recorded 100’s of tracks
with important hard bop musicians throughout the late 1950’s and 1960’s.
Blue Mitchell - Episode 2
On this podcast you will hear Blue’s most important recordings as a bandleader from the late 1950’s through the mid 1960’s. He was one of the great interpreters of the blues and the most lyrical hard bop trumpet player of his generation. His solos represent an education in timing and note choice, and the recording of Tones for Jones Bones (with Chick Corea) shows him moving into a more modern approach to improvisation.Blue Mitchell - Episode 3
I examine Blue Mitchell’s important collaboration with Horace Silver in the late 1950’s through the early 1960’s. These recordings are some of the best Blue Records from this period and certainly some of Horace Silver’s most memorable. Together with Junior Cook on tenor, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Roy Brooks, the Horace Silver Quintet was one of the most exciting bands in jazz from this period. Also included is a track from Jackie McLean’s album Jackie’s Bag and one track from a collaboration with Red Garland. These recordings clearly define why Blue was one of the most often recorded trumpet players from this period.
Blue Mitchell, 49, Jazzman, Dies; A Trumpeter With Horace Silver
by C. Gerald Fraser
Richard A. (Blue) Mitchell, the trumpet player, died of cancer at his home in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 49 years old.
Blue
Mitchell, who was given his nickname by one of his brothers, had a
30year career in music. Throughout that time his trumpet work was
consistently jazz oriented — no jazz‐rock fusion or crossover. He
performed With a number of artists, including Earl Bostic, Red Prysock,
Sarah Vaughan, Al Hibbler and Ray Charles. He made at least two tours to
Japan, the second one in 1976, with Nancy Wilson.
One
especially productive period in his career was during the years he
spent with Horace Silver, from 1958 to about 1964. His albums included,
“Ddin’ the Thing,” “Finger Poppin’ ” and “Silver's Serenade.” Some of
his outstanding solo work was heard on “Sister Sadie,” “Filthy ,
McNasty,” “Funji Mama ” and “High Heeled Sneakers.”
Albums
recorded under his own leadership included “African Violet,” “Blue
Mitchell,” “Blue's Blues,” “Blue's Moods,” “Mapenzi,” “Graffiti Blues,”
“Many Shades of Summer,” “Vital” and his final album, “Summer Soft.” His
favorite, according to his widow, Thelma Mitchell, was “Smooth as the
Wind,” recorded by Riverside.
Herman (Junior)
Cook, the tenor saxophonist with whom Mr. Mitchell worked, especially
when they both were members of Mr. Silver's group, which also included
Gene Taylor on bass and Roy Brooks on drums, described Mr. Mitchell's
style: Blue Mitchell was a “very warm, lyrical and melodic player.” “He
was technically precise,” Mr. Cook said, “and he had a beautiful tone
and an expressive quality like Miles Davis's. Warmth and great feeling.”
Mr.
Mitchell moved from New York to Los Angeles around 1970. He did studio
and club work there, traveled with Louis Bellson and formed the Blue
MitchellHarold Land Quintet, with which he performed until late last
fall, when his illness was discovered.
Survivors
besides his wife are a sister, Cora Lee King of Miami, and two
brothers, Rufus Mitchell and John Mitchell, both of Baltimore.
Mr.
Mitchell's body will be brought East for a memorial service tomorrow at
St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 53d Street and Lexington Avenue at 2 P.M.
Burial will be in his birthplace, Miami.
Blue Mitchell: The Complete Blue Note Sessions (1963-67)
Blue was the perfect nickname for Richard Mitchell. Bright or soft, his tone had a wistfulness about it, and his improvisations inclined toward the harmonic implications of the blues even when he worked with sophisticated material. His trademarks were calm, assurance, and relaxation. They were welcome in an era heavily populated with trumpet players bent on exploiting the instrument’s capacity for bravura proclamation.
Mitchell’s career with Riverside Records, from 1958 to 1963, coincided
with his membership in the Horace Silver Quintet. His own recordings of
that period and those with Silver trace the growth of confidence that
resulted in a blooming of his lyricism, swing, and narrative ability. By
the time of his first Blue Note session, when he was still with Silver,
he was a skilled storyteller. With bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Roy
Brooks from the Silver band, Mitchell used pianist Herbie Hancock and
two saxophonists, Joe Henderson on tenor and altoist Leo Wright.
Henderson brought in a new tune, “Mamacita,” that would become a
classic, and demonstrated why the originality of his playing generated
enthusiasm in the New York jazz community. Mitchell’s solos on “Sweet
and Lovely” and “Cry Me A River” are examples of the maturity and
sweetness of his ballad playing.
After Silver disbanded in early 1964, Mitchell continued the group with
his frontline partner Junior Cook. Through the remainder of the Mosaic
collection, Cook’s tenor solos are reminders that he, like Mitchell,
rarely gets the credit he plainly deserves. Their partnership, with its
stunning ensemble togetherness in “Fungii Mama” and other pieces,
dominates the dates that produced the albums The Thing to Do, Down With
It! and Bring It Home to Me. The rhythm section is Taylor, pianist Chick
Corea, and the 18-year-old Al Foster on drums. Harold Mabern is on
piano and Billy Higgins the drummer in the Bring It Home to Me session.
Taylor is the only player other than Mitchell who is on every track of
the four CDs. He is not a bassist whose notes have long decay times.
Rather, the distinctness and intensity of his notes contribute to an
inevitability of swing that makes his work notably satisfying.
Corea was a young wonder in the earlier sessions and by the time of the
Mitchell octet date of 1966 (Boss Horn) had become a pianist of
pronounced originality in harmony, touch, and conception. He also
contributed two important compositions, “Tones for Joan’s Bones” and
“Straight Up and Down,” arranged by Duke Pearson. Pearson’s chart on “I
Should Care” combined with Mitchell’s caressing of the melody for a
timeless performance. Pearson’s master touch continued the following
year at the Heads Up! session with his, Jimmy Heath’s, and Melba
Liston’s arrangements for a nine-piece band. They included another
perfect ballad performance by Mitchell in “The Folks Who Live on the
Hill.” Heath’s intricate “Togetherness” included side trips into
modality, a challenge that Mitchell and Cook met with aplomb. This
valuable set from Mosaic preserves some of the best work of a trumpeter
who blazed no trails, but played beautifully.
https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/bluemitchell
Nearly 24 years after dying of cancer, a talented but obscure jazz musician named Richard “Blue” Mitchell has given his widow a gift.
Thelma Mitchell, who lives in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in the Bronx and gives her age as “early 70s,” now has a pleasant problem: what to do with thousands of dollars in unexpected royalties from the sudden popularity of a song her late husband wrote in the 1960s.
Last summer, when Marty Bandier, the head of EMI Music Publishing, was flipping through royalty statements, one numbr had him scratching his head: a check for $32,050.12 to a woman in the Bronx.
“I didn’t recognize the song,” Bandier said. “And I can usually hum them all.”
EMI had been doling out tiny checks to Mitchell over the years from her husband’s work, never more than a few hundred bucks a year. But the song in question – “Fungii Mama,” first released on Blue Mitchell’s 1964 album “The Thing To Do” – was sampled by the band Basement Jaxx on their 2001 CD “Rooty.”
Blue Mitchell was a trumpet player who recorded in the 1950s and ’60s. The publication All Music Guide writes that he “tends to be overlooked today . . . despite his undeniable talent.”
Total time: 78:49 min.
01. Smooth as the Wind (Dameron) 5:11
02. But Beautiful (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:35
03. The Best Things in Life Are Free (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson) 3:18
04. Peace (Horace Silver) 3:55
05. For Heavens Sake (Meyer-Bretton-Edwards) 3:32
06. The Nearness of You (Washington-Carmichael) 3:22
07. A Blue Time (Dameron) 4:53
08. Strollin (Silver) 3:16
09. For All We Know (Lewis-Coots) 3:21
10. Im a Fool to Want You (Herron-Sinatra-Wolf) 3:36
11. West Coast Blues (Montgomery) 5:38
12. I Cant Get Started (Duke-Gershwin) 3:45
13. Blue on Blue (Heath) 4:45
14. A Sure Thing (Kern-Gershwin) 4:30
15. Hootie Blues (McShann) 5:21
16. Hip to It (Mitchell) 4:56
17. Gone with the Wind (Wrubel-Magidson) 5:56
18. Why Do I Love You? (Kern-Hammerstein II) 5:25
Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry, Bernie Glow, Burt Collins, trumpets; Britt Woodman, Julian Priester, trombones; Willie Ruff, French horn; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Charlie Persip, drums. String section with Harry Lookofsky (violin), concertmaster
http://www.sokillingman.com/category/artists/blue-mitchell/
Download the Transcription: Bb, C
Blue Mitchell’s Solo on “Bluesville” from the album Step Lightly (1963). Players on album: Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Gene Taylor (bass), Roy Brooks (drum set). Transcribed by Lukas Skrove, Spring 2012. Solo begins 0’38’’
With transcribing the jazz language I’ve always been fascinated with the process of figuring out what the great players of the 50’s and the 60’s played. With such ease and flow their language of be-bop, and blues just feeds the ears of our generation with so much substance that I feel we sometimes miss out on. I’m a young musician trying to study this music and hopefully begin to understand it a little bit more with everyday that goes by. At school I try to transcribe as many solos as I can. This semester my trumpet teacher Adam Rossmiller came across this solo of Blue Mitchell’s and told me to check it out and transcribe it. So I did!
Blue Mitchell’s solo off of the album Step Lightly is a great source of high-quality jazz language. This August, 1963 session was Blue Mitchell’s first as a leader for Blue Note, but remained unreleased until 1980, by which time the soulful trumpeter had already passed away. Ironically, it’s also never been issued on CD in the US, and this 1994 Japanese edition is currently the only way to own it in that format. While Mitchell’s later BN dates with his own working quintet are rightly considered his best, the lineup on STEP LIGHTLY (Joe Henderson on tenor, Leo Wright on alto, Herbie Hancock on piano and longtime Mitchell associates Gene Taylor and Roy Brooks on bass and drums respectively) offers a unique opportunity to hear him fronting what was, in retrospect, almost an all-star band. He combines the use of the blues, the pentatonic scale, ii-V-I’s, and be-bop language throughout the solo to really give the listener a plethora of jazz substance. Blue Mitchell also throughout uses what some call digital patterns to either lead into another idea or to another guide tone. Here is a little bit more specific analysis.
First chorus:
Measures 1 & 2: use of the blues scale. The line possesses a pentatonic shape.
Measure 4: use of a great ii-V-I line. (5-3-R-7-3-b9-7-3) Be-Bop!
Measure 7 – 9: generalizes E harmonic minor over the iii – VI
Measure 11 (beat 3): uses the digital pattern (m3-11-5-7) over the B7 and does the same pattern over the Emin7 in measure 12.
Second chorus:
Measure 14: generalizes G major.
Measure 18: restatement of measure 14
Measure 21-22: uses a descending pattern leading into the next chorus.
(13-11-3) to (9-7-b13) great color tones.
Third chorus:
Measure 24: chorus starts on beat four with a nice descending line resolving to the downbeat of the next measure.
Measure 28: Blue uses another great ii-V-I lick in the same part of the form. Except the lick is different (R-3-5-7-13- descending triplet to 3-7)
Measure 28 beat 3 – 30: A hip descending 16th note triplet sequence leading to the key guide tones in the chord. It eventually resolves to the 5 of the four chord.
Measure 35: Blue restates the blues motif he uses to open the solo with.
Fourth chorus:
Measure 37: Blue pivots off of the concert C using syncopated 16th note triplets again.
Measure 40: standard blues lick. Blue does an 8th note triplet between the major and minor 3rd of the D7.
Measure 42: a little bit like measure 14 and 18 but a little bit more complex of a figure.
Measure 45 – 48: are almost two identical phrases. The only difference is that in measure 47-48 Blue adds a few 16th note triplets to off set the rhythm to add more rhythmic variety to the line. Beat three of 48 Blue does a beautiful b9 to the #9 triplet figure.
To finish he resolves to the tonic with (R-3-13) which can also be seen as him outlining b-minor over D7.
What a great solo!
Home September 13, 2014
Richard Allen Mitchell, better known as “Blue”, was born in Miami,
Florida on March 13, 1930 and died in Los Angeles on May 21, 1979. He
could very well have become one of the best-known names in jazz had his
career (and his life) not been cut short by cancer when he was only 49
years old.
He took up the trumpet in high school, then when he was in his early 20’s he began playing with Paul Williams. Eventually he moved on to play with Earl Bostic’s band, Red Prysock, Chuck Willis, and Sarah Vaughan.
In 1958, the year Mitchell recorded the album I’m going to tell you about, he also sat in on a gig with Cannonball Adderley, after which he signed up for a long-term run with Horace Silver’s famous quintet. When Silver dissolved that group, Mitchell formed his own first band consisting of several other Silver alumni.
Later in his career Mitchell played with several artists who went on to become legends: the great Ray Charles, the British blues multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, drummer Louis Bellson, singer Tony Bennett, and of course Lena Horne.
Mitchell recorded several albums during his comparatively brief career. Depending on who you listen to, the album I want to tell you about this week is either his first or second as a leader.
Mitchell recorded this one in 1958 and he gave it the title, “Big 6.”
A quick glance at the roster reveals one possible provenance for that title:
Blue Mitchell, trumpet
Curtis Fuller, trombone
Johnny Griffin, tenor saxophone
Wynton Kelly, piano
Wilbur Ware, bass
Philly Joe Jones, drums
This is an “A” list recording, put together by six of the hottest names in jazz at the time. At 44 minutes, the running time is a bit short by modern standards, but “Big 6” more than makes up for that with the quality of the songs. There are no fillers, no duds, on this album.
“Big 6” opens with the earliest recording of Benny Golson’s “Blues March.” The song went on to become a classic, but I don’t think you’ll find a better version than the one right here. About a minute and a half in, Griffin takes the lead for a minute or so before being followed first by Mitchell and then Fuller. While all this is going on, the guys in the rhythm section lay down a cool bop groove that carries them all forward.
https://bluemitchell.jazzgiants.net/
Blue Mitchell
Legendary Jazz Trumpeter
Trumpeter Blue Mitchell was best known as a highly lyrical and
hard-swinging player, with accomplished craftsmanship and a clear tone.
Owner of a direct, lightly swinging, somewhat plain-wrapped tone that
fit right in with the Blue Note label’s hard bop ethos of the 1960s, Blue Mitchell tends to be overlooked today perhaps because he never really stood out vividly from the crowd, despite his undeniable talent.
Blue Mitchell made his name as a member of Horace Silver’s quintet, where his lyrical playing and beautiful timbre perfectly complemented Silver’s simplified, soulful brand of bop. Mitchell later developed into a trumpeter and bandleader who produced jazz that was ultimately infectious, fully flavored with soul and swing, but devoid of all pretentiousness.
Mitchell caught the attention of Cannonball Adderley, with whom he recorded for Riverside in 1958. That year, he joined the Horace Silver Quintet, with whom he played and recorded until the band’s breakup in March 1964, polishing his hard bop skills. When Silver disbanded, Mitchell‘s spinoff quintet carried on with a young future star named Chick Corea in the piano chair. This group, with several personnel changes, continued until 1969, recording a string of albums for Blue Note.
Aware that opportunities for playing straight-ahead jazz were dwindling, Mitchell became a prolific pop and soul session man in the late ’60s, and he toured with Ray Charles from 1969 to 1971 and blues/rock guitarist John Mayall in 1971-1973.
Blue Mitchell also recorded as a sideman with Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Jimmy Smith, Red Garland, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Lou Donaldson, Cedar Walton and Tony Bennett. Blue kept his hard-bop playing going with the Harold Land quintet up until his death from cancer on May 21, 1979 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 49.
https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/bluemitchell
Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell was born March 13, 1930 in Miami, Florida. He took up
trumpet in high school where he acquired his nickname. After high
school, he toured with R&B bands led by Paul Williams, Earl Bostic,
and Chuck Willis. After returning to Miami, he was heard by Cannonball
Adderly, who took him to New York to record for Riverside in 1958.
Mitchell gained a reputation working with Horace Silver’s quintet from
1958 to March of 1964, where his lyrical playing and beautiful tone
perfectly complemented Silver’s simplified, soulful brand of bop. When
Silver disbanded in 1963, Mitchell formed his own group, employing most
of his fellow musicians, with Silver's place being taken by Chick Corea.
This band continued until the end of the decade, at which time Mitchell
joined the band that was backing Ray Charles. During the early 70s,
Mitchell played with a number of artists in fields outside jazz, notably
bluesman John Mayall and popular singers such as Tony Bennett and Lena
Horne. Resident in Los Angeles from the mid-70s, Mitchell freelanced in
both small and big bands, including those led by Harold Land, Louie
Bellson and Bill Berry.
Blue Mitchell died of cancer on May 21st 1979 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 49.
https://nypost.com/2002/11/25/from-blue-notes-to-c-notes-a-jazz-widows-windfall/
Blue Mitchell died of cancer on May 21st 1979 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 49.
https://nypost.com/2002/11/25/from-blue-notes-to-c-notes-a-jazz-widows-windfall/
FROM BLUE NOTES TO C-NOTES:
A JAZZ WIDOW’S WINDFALL
Nearly 24 years after dying of cancer, a talented but obscure jazz musician named Richard “Blue” Mitchell has given his widow a gift.
Thelma Mitchell, who lives in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in the Bronx and gives her age as “early 70s,” now has a pleasant problem: what to do with thousands of dollars in unexpected royalties from the sudden popularity of a song her late husband wrote in the 1960s.
Last summer, when Marty Bandier, the head of EMI Music Publishing, was flipping through royalty statements, one numbr had him scratching his head: a check for $32,050.12 to a woman in the Bronx.
“I didn’t recognize the song,” Bandier said. “And I can usually hum them all.”
EMI had been doling out tiny checks to Mitchell over the years from her husband’s work, never more than a few hundred bucks a year. But the song in question – “Fungii Mama,” first released on Blue Mitchell’s 1964 album “The Thing To Do” – was sampled by the band Basement Jaxx on their 2001 CD “Rooty.”
Blue Mitchell was a trumpet player who recorded in the 1950s and ’60s. The publication All Music Guide writes that he “tends to be overlooked today . . . despite his undeniable talent.”
Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell & Orchestra: Smooth As The Wind + A Sure Thing (2 LP on 1 CD)
Fresh Sound Records
Personnel:
Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry (tp), Julian Priester (tb), Jerome Richardson, Jimmy Heath, Pepper Adams (saxes), Tommy Flanagan, Wynton Kelly (p), Sam Jones (b), Charlie Persip (d), Harry Lookofsky (vln, concertmaster), Benny Golson, Tadd Dameron (arr)
Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry (tp), Julian Priester (tb), Jerome Richardson, Jimmy Heath, Pepper Adams (saxes), Tommy Flanagan, Wynton Kelly (p), Sam Jones (b), Charlie Persip (d), Harry Lookofsky (vln, concertmaster), Benny Golson, Tadd Dameron (arr)
When these recordings were made in early 60s, trumpeter Blue
Mitchell was already a mature artist: a thoughtful musician with an
individual voice, who had made a name with Horace Silvers quintet from
1958 onwards. Both Smooth as the Wind and A Sure Thing were true
hallmarks in his career. Designed to show all his talents, in them he is
supported by two large and fascinatingly seductive settings. The first
is a summation of the tonal color, lyricism, and good taste that marked
Mitchells playing up to that point. Benny Golson and Tadd Dameron wrote
and conducted the skilled strings-and-brass orchestrations. While Golson
provides more space for the soloist and arranges pretty little
backdrops for him to play off, Dameron supplies intricate patterns of
voicing and musical shifts.
The second album presents Mitchell in a vigorous and well-balanced set of arrangements scored and conducted by Jimmy Heath. Apart from Mitchell, one of the most melodic trumpeters of his generation, Heath (on tenor) is the other main soloist, in virile and inventive form throughout. Baritonists Pepper Adams on Blue on Blue, and Pat Patrick on Hip to It, also contribute a couple of tough, passionate solos, while Wynton Kelly is the personification of self-assurance, good taste, and unabated swing throughout.
The second album presents Mitchell in a vigorous and well-balanced set of arrangements scored and conducted by Jimmy Heath. Apart from Mitchell, one of the most melodic trumpeters of his generation, Heath (on tenor) is the other main soloist, in virile and inventive form throughout. Baritonists Pepper Adams on Blue on Blue, and Pat Patrick on Hip to It, also contribute a couple of tough, passionate solos, while Wynton Kelly is the personification of self-assurance, good taste, and unabated swing throughout.
Tracklist
Total time: 78:49 min.
01. Smooth as the Wind (Dameron) 5:11
02. But Beautiful (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:35
03. The Best Things in Life Are Free (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson) 3:18
04. Peace (Horace Silver) 3:55
05. For Heavens Sake (Meyer-Bretton-Edwards) 3:32
06. The Nearness of You (Washington-Carmichael) 3:22
07. A Blue Time (Dameron) 4:53
08. Strollin (Silver) 3:16
09. For All We Know (Lewis-Coots) 3:21
10. Im a Fool to Want You (Herron-Sinatra-Wolf) 3:36
11. West Coast Blues (Montgomery) 5:38
12. I Cant Get Started (Duke-Gershwin) 3:45
13. Blue on Blue (Heath) 4:45
14. A Sure Thing (Kern-Gershwin) 4:30
15. Hootie Blues (McShann) 5:21
16. Hip to It (Mitchell) 4:56
17. Gone with the Wind (Wrubel-Magidson) 5:56
18. Why Do I Love You? (Kern-Hammerstein II) 5:25
Album details
Sources:
Tracks #1-10, from the album "Smooth as the Wind" (Riverside RS 9367)
Tracks #11-17, from the album "A Sure Thing" (Riverside RS 9414)
Track #18, from the album "The Cup Bearers" (Riverside RS-9439)
Personnel on Smooth as the Wind:
Tracks #11-17, from the album "A Sure Thing" (Riverside RS 9414)
Track #18, from the album "The Cup Bearers" (Riverside RS-9439)
Personnel on Smooth as the Wind:
Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry, Bernie Glow, Burt Collins, trumpets; Britt Woodman, Julian Priester, trombones; Willie Ruff, French horn; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Charlie Persip, drums. String section with Harry Lookofsky (violin), concertmaster
On #1,2,3,7,8 & 10 Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, trombones and
Philly Joe Jones, drums, replace Woodman, Priester and Persip.
Arrangements by Benny Golson (#4,9,10), and Tadd Dameron (#1,2,3,5,6,7,8)
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, December 27, 1960 (#4,5,6,8) and March 29 & 30 (#1,2,3,7,9,10), 1961
Personnel on A Sure Thing:
Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry, trumpets; Julius Watkins, French horn; Jerome Richardson, flute, alto sax; Jimmy Heath, tenor sax, arranger; Pepper Adams (on #13) or Pat Patrick (on #16), baritone sax; Wynton Kelly, piano; Sam Jones, bass; Albert 'Tootie' Heath, drums.
Arrangements by Benny Golson (#4,9,10), and Tadd Dameron (#1,2,3,5,6,7,8)
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, December 27, 1960 (#4,5,6,8) and March 29 & 30 (#1,2,3,7,9,10), 1961
Personnel on A Sure Thing:
Blue Mitchell, Clark Terry, trumpets; Julius Watkins, French horn; Jerome Richardson, flute, alto sax; Jimmy Heath, tenor sax, arranger; Pepper Adams (on #13) or Pat Patrick (on #16), baritone sax; Wynton Kelly, piano; Sam Jones, bass; Albert 'Tootie' Heath, drums.
On #17 only Mitchell, Heath, Kelly, Jones and 'Tootie' Heath.
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, March 7 (#12,15) 8 (#13,14) & 28 (#11,16,17), 1962
Personnel on track #18:
Blue Mitchell, trumpet; Junior Cook, tenor sax; Cedar Walton, piano; Gene Taylor, bass; Roy Brooks, drums.
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, August 28 & 30, 1962
Original recordings produced by Orrin Keepnews
Personnel on track #18:
Blue Mitchell, trumpet; Junior Cook, tenor sax; Cedar Walton, piano; Gene Taylor, bass; Roy Brooks, drums.
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, August 28 & 30, 1962
Original recordings produced by Orrin Keepnews
Recording engineer: Ray Fowler
Original cover design: Ken Deardoff
Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Stereo · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: Track 18 is part of the Blue Mitchell LP The Cup Bearers, included on the CD Blue Mitchell & Junior Cook (FSR-789), but Why Do I Love You? was left out because it did not fit the maximum playing time of the CD.
Original cover design: Ken Deardoff
Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Stereo · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: Track 18 is part of the Blue Mitchell LP The Cup Bearers, included on the CD Blue Mitchell & Junior Cook (FSR-789), but Why Do I Love You? was left out because it did not fit the maximum playing time of the CD.
http://www.sokillingman.com/category/artists/blue-mitchell/
Guest Post: Blue Mitchell, Bluesville
Blue Mitchell’s Solo on “Bluesville” from the album Step Lightly (1963). Players on album: Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Gene Taylor (bass), Roy Brooks (drum set). Transcribed by Lukas Skrove, Spring 2012. Solo begins 0’38’’
With transcribing the jazz language I’ve always been fascinated with the process of figuring out what the great players of the 50’s and the 60’s played. With such ease and flow their language of be-bop, and blues just feeds the ears of our generation with so much substance that I feel we sometimes miss out on. I’m a young musician trying to study this music and hopefully begin to understand it a little bit more with everyday that goes by. At school I try to transcribe as many solos as I can. This semester my trumpet teacher Adam Rossmiller came across this solo of Blue Mitchell’s and told me to check it out and transcribe it. So I did!
Blue Mitchell’s solo off of the album Step Lightly is a great source of high-quality jazz language. This August, 1963 session was Blue Mitchell’s first as a leader for Blue Note, but remained unreleased until 1980, by which time the soulful trumpeter had already passed away. Ironically, it’s also never been issued on CD in the US, and this 1994 Japanese edition is currently the only way to own it in that format. While Mitchell’s later BN dates with his own working quintet are rightly considered his best, the lineup on STEP LIGHTLY (Joe Henderson on tenor, Leo Wright on alto, Herbie Hancock on piano and longtime Mitchell associates Gene Taylor and Roy Brooks on bass and drums respectively) offers a unique opportunity to hear him fronting what was, in retrospect, almost an all-star band. He combines the use of the blues, the pentatonic scale, ii-V-I’s, and be-bop language throughout the solo to really give the listener a plethora of jazz substance. Blue Mitchell also throughout uses what some call digital patterns to either lead into another idea or to another guide tone. Here is a little bit more specific analysis.
First chorus:
Measures 1 & 2: use of the blues scale. The line possesses a pentatonic shape.
Measure 4: use of a great ii-V-I line. (5-3-R-7-3-b9-7-3) Be-Bop!
Measure 7 – 9: generalizes E harmonic minor over the iii – VI
Measure 11 (beat 3): uses the digital pattern (m3-11-5-7) over the B7 and does the same pattern over the Emin7 in measure 12.
Second chorus:
Measure 14: generalizes G major.
Measure 18: restatement of measure 14
Measure 21-22: uses a descending pattern leading into the next chorus.
(13-11-3) to (9-7-b13) great color tones.
Third chorus:
Measure 24: chorus starts on beat four with a nice descending line resolving to the downbeat of the next measure.
Measure 28: Blue uses another great ii-V-I lick in the same part of the form. Except the lick is different (R-3-5-7-13- descending triplet to 3-7)
Measure 28 beat 3 – 30: A hip descending 16th note triplet sequence leading to the key guide tones in the chord. It eventually resolves to the 5 of the four chord.
Measure 35: Blue restates the blues motif he uses to open the solo with.
Fourth chorus:
Measure 37: Blue pivots off of the concert C using syncopated 16th note triplets again.
Measure 40: standard blues lick. Blue does an 8th note triplet between the major and minor 3rd of the D7.
Measure 42: a little bit like measure 14 and 18 but a little bit more complex of a figure.
Measure 45 – 48: are almost two identical phrases. The only difference is that in measure 47-48 Blue adds a few 16th note triplets to off set the rhythm to add more rhythmic variety to the line. Beat three of 48 Blue does a beautiful b9 to the #9 triplet figure.
To finish he resolves to the tonic with (R-3-13) which can also be seen as him outlining b-minor over D7.
What a great solo!
https://www.wtju.net/jazz-100-hour-65-hard-bop-trumpet-part-2/
Jazz at 100 Hour 65:
Hard Bop Trumpet, Part 2
(1962 – 1964)
June 15th, 2018
by Russell Perry
Jazz For A Saturday Night #118:
Blue Mitchell
Posted by Al EvansHe took up the trumpet in high school, then when he was in his early 20’s he began playing with Paul Williams. Eventually he moved on to play with Earl Bostic’s band, Red Prysock, Chuck Willis, and Sarah Vaughan.
In 1958, the year Mitchell recorded the album I’m going to tell you about, he also sat in on a gig with Cannonball Adderley, after which he signed up for a long-term run with Horace Silver’s famous quintet. When Silver dissolved that group, Mitchell formed his own first band consisting of several other Silver alumni.
Later in his career Mitchell played with several artists who went on to become legends: the great Ray Charles, the British blues multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, drummer Louis Bellson, singer Tony Bennett, and of course Lena Horne.
Mitchell recorded several albums during his comparatively brief career. Depending on who you listen to, the album I want to tell you about this week is either his first or second as a leader.
Mitchell recorded this one in 1958 and he gave it the title, “Big 6.”
Blue Mitchell’s “Big 6”
Blue Mitchell, trumpet
Curtis Fuller, trombone
Johnny Griffin, tenor saxophone
Wynton Kelly, piano
Wilbur Ware, bass
Philly Joe Jones, drums
This is an “A” list recording, put together by six of the hottest names in jazz at the time. At 44 minutes, the running time is a bit short by modern standards, but “Big 6” more than makes up for that with the quality of the songs. There are no fillers, no duds, on this album.
“Big 6” opens with the earliest recording of Benny Golson’s “Blues March.” The song went on to become a classic, but I don’t think you’ll find a better version than the one right here. About a minute and a half in, Griffin takes the lead for a minute or so before being followed first by Mitchell and then Fuller. While all this is going on, the guys in the rhythm section lay down a cool bop groove that carries them all forward.
https://bluemitchell.jazzgiants.net/
Blue Mitchell
" I think Blue Mitchell was one of the most melodic players of his generation”—Jimmy Heath
Blue Mitchell made his name as a member of Horace Silver’s quintet, where his lyrical playing and beautiful timbre perfectly complemented Silver’s simplified, soulful brand of bop. Mitchell later developed into a trumpeter and bandleader who produced jazz that was ultimately infectious, fully flavored with soul and swing, but devoid of all pretentiousness.
Mitchell caught the attention of Cannonball Adderley, with whom he recorded for Riverside in 1958. That year, he joined the Horace Silver Quintet, with whom he played and recorded until the band’s breakup in March 1964, polishing his hard bop skills. When Silver disbanded, Mitchell‘s spinoff quintet carried on with a young future star named Chick Corea in the piano chair. This group, with several personnel changes, continued until 1969, recording a string of albums for Blue Note.
Aware that opportunities for playing straight-ahead jazz were dwindling, Mitchell became a prolific pop and soul session man in the late ’60s, and he toured with Ray Charles from 1969 to 1971 and blues/rock guitarist John Mayall in 1971-1973.
Blue Mitchell also recorded as a sideman with Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Jimmy Smith, Red Garland, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Lou Donaldson, Cedar Walton and Tony Bennett. Blue kept his hard-bop playing going with the Harold Land quintet up until his death from cancer on May 21, 1979 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 49.
THE
MUSIC OF BLUE MITCHELL: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF
RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS
WITH BLUE MITCHELL:
Blue Mitchell - Vital Blue (full album) 1971
Blue Mitchell - Blue's Blues (Full Album)
Missing You - Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell - The Cup Bearers ( Full Album )
Blue Mitchell - Heads Down
Blue Mitchell - Sir John
Blue Mitchell - The Way You Look Tonight
Blue Mitchell - THE THING TO DO
Blue Mitchell - I Wish I Knew
Something About Blue - Blue Mitchell's Blue Soul
Blue Soul - Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell - Collaborations
Blue Mitchell "Out of the Blue" - Full Album
Blue Mitchell - Soul Village - 1972
Blue Mitchell - Missing You
Jazz Funk - Blue Mitchell - Soul Turn Around
Blue Mitchell - Delilah
Blue Mitchell "Graffiti Blues" - Full Album
Blue Mitchell "Stratosonic Nuances" - Full Album
Cry Me A River-Blue Mitchel
Boomerang - Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell - Bring It Home To Me (1966)
Blue Mitchell -- The Message
Blue Mitchell - Daydream
Blue Mitchell - STEP LIGHTLY
Video
“Senor Blues”
Horace Silver - Señor Blues (Horace Silver, Blue Mitchell & Junior Cook)
Horace Silver – Piano
Blue Mitchell – Trumpet
Junior Cook – Tenor Sax
Gene Taylor – Bass
Louis Hayes – Drums
“Cool Eyes”
Blue Mitchell solo – “Strollin” – Solo Transcription (Concert):
Blue Mitchell
BLUE MITCHELL
Biography
Mitchell was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He began playing trumpet in high school, where he acquired his nickname, Blue.[1]
After high school, he played in the rhythm and blues ensembles of Paul Williams, Earl Bostic, and Chuck Willis. After returning to Miami he was noticed by Cannonball Adderley, with whom he recorded for Riverside Records in New York in 1958.
He then joined the Horace Silver Quintet, playing with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Roy Brooks. Mitchell stayed with Silver's group until the band's break-up in 1964, after which he formed a group with members from the Silver quintet, substituting the young pianist Chick Corea for Silver and replacing Brooks, who had fallen ill, with drummer Al Foster. This group produced a number of records for Blue Note. It disbanded in 1969, after which Mitchell joined and toured with Ray Charles until 1971.
From 1971 to 1973 Mitchell performed with John Mayall, appearing on Jazz Blues Fusion and subsequent albums. From the mid-70s he recorded and worked as a session man in the genres noted previously, performed with the big band leaders Louie Bellson, Bill Holman, and Bill Berry and was the principal soloist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne. Other band leaders Mitchell recorded with include Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Johnny Griffin, Al Cohn, Dexter Gordon, and Jimmy Smith. Blue Mitchell kept his hard-bop playing going with the Harold Land quintet up until his death from cancer on May 21, 1979, in Los Angeles, at the age of 49.[2]
References:
- Allmusic Biography
- Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 126. Gale Cengage Learning. 2015. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-1-57302-425-9.
