Blue Mitchell

Gene Taylor and Blue Mitchell (Concertgebouw, 1959)

Richard Allen "Blue" Mitchell (* 13. March 1930 in Miami , Florida ; † 21st May 1979 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American jazz - trumpet .

life and work

At the beginning of his musical career, Blue Mitchell worked with Paul Williams in 1951 and as a freelance musician in New York in 1952. He then toured with Earl Bostic until 1956 and from the end of 1958 a member of the Horace Silver quintet . With Curtis Fuller , Johnny Griffin , Wynton Kelly , Wilbur Ware and Philly Joe Jones , he recorded his first album under his own name in 1958, Big 6 for Riverside Records . In 1961 he worked on Elmo Hope's album Homecoming! With; In 1964 he founded his own combo with musicians from the Silver Band, to which Chick Corea also belonged and which he directed until 1968. In 1969 he became a member of the orchestra of Ray Charles , from 1971 to 1973 he worked with John Mayall and then worked as a studio musician in Los Angeles.

His playing style, influenced by Clifford Brown and Kenny Dorham , can be heard on records with Julian Cannonball Adderley , Lou Donaldson , Johnny Griffin, Philly Joe Jones and Sam Jones , Red Mitchell and Whitey Mitchell , Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons and on his own records.

Mitchell died of cancer at the age of 49.

Discography

As a band leader

• 1958 Big 6 (Riverside / OJC )
• 1958 Get Those Elephants Out'a Here as "The Mitchells" ( Red , Whitey & Blue Mitchell with André Previn ) ( MetroJazz Records 1012, 1958)
• 1959 Out of the Blue (Riverside / OJC) with Benny Golson , Wynton Kelly , Paul Chambers , Sam Jones, Art Blakey
• 1959 Blue Soul (Riverside / OJC) with Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath , Sam Jones, Philly Joe Jones
• 1959 Blues on My Mind (Riverside / OJC)
• 1960 Blue's Moods (Riverside / OJC)
• 1961 Smooth as the Wind (Riverside / OJC)
• 1962 A Sure Thing (Riverside) with Clark Terry , Jerome Richardson , Jimmy Heath, Pepper Adams , Wynton Kelly
• 1963 The Cup Bearers (Riverside) with Junior Cook , Cedar Walton, Gene Taylor , Roy Brooks
• 1963 A Chip Off The Old Block ( Blue Note ) with Stanley Turrentine , Shirley Scott , Earl May , Al Harewood
• 1963 The Thing to Do ( Blue Note )
• 1965 Down with it! (Blue note)
• 1970 Bantu Village (Blue Note)

As an accompanying musician / sideman

for Lou Donaldson

• 1952: New Faces-New Sounds ( Blue Note Records )
• 1967: Mr. Shing-A-Ling (Blue Note Records)
• 1968: Midnight Creeper (Blue Note Records)
• 1968: Say It Loud! (Blue Note Records)
• 1970: Everything I Play Is Funky (Blue Note Records)
• 1970: Pretty Things (Blue Note Records)

for Cannonball Adderley

• 1958: Portrait of Cannonball ( Riverside Records )

for Horace Silver

• 1959: Finger Poppin ' (Blue Note Records)
• 1959: Blowin 'the Blues Away (Blue Note)
• 1960: Horace-Scope (Blue Note)
• 1963–1964: Song for My Father (Blue Note)

for Hank Mobley

• 1967: Hi Voltage (Blue Note; 1968)

for Jimmy McGriff

• 1968: The Worm (Solid State)
• 1969: Electric Funk (Blue Note)

for Grant Green

• 1970: Green Is Beautiful (Blue Note)

literature

• Martin Kunzler : Jazz-Lexikon , Reinbek, Rowohlt 1988.
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
• Bielefeld Jazz Catalog, 2001.

Web links

• Blue Mitchell at Discogs (English)
• Blue Mitchell at Allmusic (English)
• Blue Mitchell Leader Entry (discography as band leader; English)

Radio feature

• The blues as backbone: trumpeter Blue Mitchell on Radio SRF 2 Kultur on August 29, 2015.