Billy Mitchell: In Memoriam
BY LARS BJÖRN AND PIOTR MICHALOWSKI
Billy
Mitchell, one of Detroit's major jazz figures, passed away on
April 18 at his home in Rockville Centre, New York, after a long
illness. Mitchell's main claim to local fame was his leadership
of the house band at the Blue Bird Inn in the years between 1951
and 1953. This group included Pontiac brothers Thad Jones on trumpet
and Elvin Jones on drums, bassist Beans Richardson, and pianists
Terry Pollard and Tommy Flanagan. The group recorded four sides
for Detroit-based Dee Gee records, which were later released on
Savoy. The leader was then known as "The Executive," a
sobriquet immortalized in the title of the Thad Jones composition
"Zec," first recorded at that session.
Mitchell was born in Kansas City in 1926, and
was raised in Detroit, where he attended McMichael Intermediate
School, Northwestern, and Cass Tech. He dropped out of high school
to start his musical career with, among others, Harold Wallace's
band at the Club Zombie. In 1945, he went on the road for the first
time with Nat Towles' Omaha-based territory band. Before forming
the Blue Bird band he played with King Porter (in Detroit), Lucky
Millinder, Milt Buckner, Milt Jackson, and Woody Herman. He moved
to New York in 1955 and was soon playing and recording, including
a memorable appearance on Thad Jones' Detroit Junction for
Blue Note. He soon came to national attention as a member of Dizzy
Gillespie's big band, and in 1957 he joined the Count Basie orchestra.
After five years off and on with Basie, Mitchell returned to New
York and went out on his own, recording for Smash and co-leading
a sextet with his former colleague from the Gillespie and Basie
bands, trombonist Al Grey. The two had already co-led a recording
session in 1957, which featured Wynton Kelly and Lee Morgan (and
the first version of Benny Golson's "Whisper Not"). The
new combo toured extensively and made some fine recordings in the
few years that it stayed together. Mitchell eventually rejoined
Basie for another brief stint and also played and recorded in Europe
with the all-star Francy-Boland and Kenny Clarke orchestra. In later
years he worked as a freelance musician, as a university educator,
recorded some fine albums for Xanadu, including De Lawd's Blues
with Benny Bailey and Tommy Flanagan, and worked for Satra Music
Productions, a subsidiary of the Soviet-American Trade Association.
B. Mitch, as he was called by some, was a powerful
tenor saxophonist who combined the rhythmic and harmonic innovations
of bebop with the sonic and expressive traditions of earlier times.
His big saxophone tone can be heard on a number of recordings, both
as a sideman and as a leader. Particular mention should be made
on his appearances on the Ray Charles-Milt Jackson collaborations
Soul Brothers and Soul Meeting (Atlantic). On "Bags
of Blues" (Soul Brothers), B Mitch shows his wonderfully
relaxed blues playing at its best. He can also be heard on many
of the Roulette period Basie recordings and on some of Gillespie's
big band releases, including the 1957 performance At Newport
(Verve) and the recently issued two volumes of Dizzy Live in
South America (Cap).
We had the fortune of hearing him at a marvelous
performance at the Attic Theatre in 1990 in tandem with trombonist
Curtis Fuller. Although his health was already declining, Mitchell
played powerful emotional tenor saxophone lines, excelling, as always,
at the blues.
Select Discography
- Billy Mitchell Quintet (1953)
— Dee Gee; reissued on Swing not Spring (Savoy).
- Dizzy Atmosphere (1957) —
Specialty reissued as an OJC CD under the names of Lee Morgan
and Wynton Kelly
- The Basie-Ites (1960) —
Jubilee
- The Al Grey - Billy Mitchell Sextet
(1961) — Argo
- Night Song (1962) — Argo
(the sextet under Grey's name)
- This is Billy Mitchell (1962)
— Smash, reissued on Trip
- A Little Juicy (1963) —
Smash
- Now's the Time (1976) —
Catalyst
- The Colossus of Detroit (1978)
— Xanadu
- Night Flight to Dakar (1980)
— Xanadu
- De Lawd's Blues — Xanadu
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