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Richard Allen (Blue) Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979) was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter. He was born and grew up in Miami, Florida. Mitchell began playing trumpet in high school where he acquired his nickname. 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 Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Roy Brooks. Mitchell stayed with Silver's group until the band's break-up in 1964. After the Silver quintet disbanded, Mitchell formed a group employing members from the Silver quintet substituting Silver for the young Chick Corea and replacing a then sick Brooks with Al Foster. This group produced a number of records for Blue Note disbanding in 1969, after which Mitchell joined and toured with Ray Charles till 1971. From 1971 to 1973 Mitchell performed with John Mayall on Jazz Blues Fusion. 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 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, 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, California at the age of 49.
[edit] Albums As Leader
| Recording Year |
Release Title |
Label |
| 1958 |
Big 6 |
Riverside |
| 1958 |
Blues on My Mind |
Riverside |
| 1959 |
Out of the Blue |
Riverside |
| 1959 |
Blue Soul |
Riverside |
| 1960 |
Blue's Moods |
Riverside |
| 1960 |
Smooth As the Wind |
Riverside |
| 1962 |
A Sure Thing |
Riverside |
| 1962 |
The Cup Bearers |
Riverside |
| 1963 |
Blue Mitchell |
Mainstream |
| 1963 |
Step Lightly |
Blue Note, Released Later |
| 1964 |
The Thing to Do |
Blue Note |
| 1965 |
Down with It! |
Blue Note |
| 1966 |
Bring It Home to Me |
Blue Note |
| 1966 |
Boss Horn |
Blue Note |
| 1967 |
Heads Up |
Blue Note |
| 1968 |
Collision in Black |
Blue Note |
| 1969 |
Bantu Village |
Blue Note |
| 1971 |
Soul Village |
Mainstream |
| 1971 |
Vital Blue |
Mainstream |
| 1972 |
Blue's Blues |
Mainstream |
| 1973 |
The Last Tango = Blues |
Mainstream |
| 1973 |
Graffiti Blues |
Mainstream |
| 1974 |
Many Shades of Blue |
Mainstream |
| 1975 |
Stratosonic Nuances |
RCA |
| 1975 |
Strato Sonic |
RCA |
| 1976 |
Live [Just Jazz] |
- |
| 1976 |
Funktion Junction |
RCA |
| 1976 |
True Blue |
Xanadu |
| 1976 |
Funktion |
RCA |
| 1977 |
Last Dance |
JAM |
| 1977 |
African Violet |
ABC |
| 1977 |
Mapanzi |
Concord Jazz |
| 1977 |
Summer Soft |
Impulse! |
[edit] Appearances
