Blue Mitchell

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title: "Blue Mitchell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1930-births", "1979-deaths", "african-american-jazz-musicians", "american-male-jazz-musicians", "american-jazz-trumpeters", "american-male-trumpeters", "american-male-jazz-composers", "hard-bop-trumpeters", "soul-jazz-trumpeters", "blue-note-records-artists", "mainstream-records-artists", "jazz-musicians-from-florida", "musicians-from-miami", "rca-records-artists", "20th-century-american-trumpeters", "20th-century-american-jazz-composers", "the-capp-pierce-juggernaut-members", "supersax-members", "20th-century-american-male-composers"] description: "American trumpeter and composer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mitchell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American trumpeter and composer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Blue Mitchell
image	Blue Mitchell Portrait (cropped).jpg
caption	Mitchell performing in Amsterdam, 1959
birth_name	Richard Allen Mitchell
birth_date
birth_place	Miami, Florida, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
genre
occupation	Musician, composer
instrument	Trumpet
years_active	19511979
label	{{flatlist
::

| name = Blue Mitchell | image = Blue Mitchell Portrait (cropped).jpg | caption = Mitchell performing in Amsterdam, 1959 | birth_name = Richard Allen Mitchell | birth_date = | birth_place = Miami, Florida, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | genre = | occupation = Musician, composer | instrument = Trumpet | years_active = 19511979 | label = {{flatlist|

• Riverside
• Blue Note
• Mainstream
• RCA
• Impulse}}

Richard Allen "Blue" Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979) was an American trumpeter and composer who worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and funk. He recorded albums as leader and sideman for Riverside, Mainstream Records, and Blue Note. He is also credited as the most recorded trumpeter with jazz organ, accumulating 27 sideman recordings in the genre.

Early life

Mitchell was born and raised in Miami, Florida, United States. He began playing trumpet in high school at the age of 17, with the nickname "Blue". His early influences included Dizzy Gillespie, Fatts Navarro, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, and Clifford Brown.

Career

After high school, Blue Mitchell began playing with local musicians in Miami. By Sam Jones' telegram request, Mitchell joined the touring Paul Williams Orchestra in Detroit. He later called this his first tour with a professional band. While on tour in 1952 Mitchell passed through New York, where he made his first recordings. These were later released on the compilation album Quartet/Quintet/Sextet by Lou Donaldson. Mitchell remained in New York following the conclusion of the tour, and was hired to join Earl Bostic's touring band from 1952 to 1955.

Following his stint with Earl Bostic in 1955, Blue Mitchell returned to Miami and was heard by saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, a fellow Floridian. Adderley recommended Mitchell to Riverside Records' producer, Orrin Keepnews, who flew to Miami to hear Mitchell perform. Keepnews, impressed, signed Mitchell to record a string of his own albums for Riverside.

Mitchell joined the Horace Silver Quintet in 1958, playing with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Louis Hayes, who was later replaced by Roy Brooks. Mitchell stayed with Silver's group until the band's break-up in 1964, after which Mitchell formed a group with members from the Silver quintet, substituting the young pianist Chick Corea for Silver and replacing Brooks with drummer Al Foster. This group produced a number of records for Blue Note with some variation in personnel, disbanding in 1969. Mitchell then toured with Ray Charles until 1971.

From 1971 to 1973, Mitchell performed with John Mayall, appearing on Jazz Blues Fusion and subsequent albums. In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles, California. During this period, he recorded and worked as a studio musician 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.

Death

Mitchell co-led a quintet with Harold Land while in California, until his death from cancer on May 21, 1979, aged 49.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

::data[format=table]

Recording date	Title	Label	Year released	Notes
1958-07	Big 6	Riverside	1958
1958-10	Get Those Elephants Out'a Here	MetroJazz	1959	with Red Mitchell, Whitey Mitchell and André Previn
1959-01	Out of the Blue	Riverside	1959
1959-09	Blue Soul	Riverside	1959
1960-08	Blue's Moods	Riverside	1960
1960-12,
1961-03	Smooth as the Wind	Riverside	1961
1962-03	A Sure Thing	Riverside	1962
1962-08	The Cup Bearers	Riverside	1962
1963-08	Step Lightly	Blue Note	1980
1964-07	The Thing to Do	Blue Note	1965
1965-07	Down with It!	Blue Note	1966
1966-01	Bring It Home to Me	Blue Note	1967
1966-11	Boss Horn	Blue Note	1967
1967-11	Heads Up!	Blue Note	1968
1968-09	Collision in Black	Blue Note	1969
1969-05	Bantu Village	Blue Note	1969
1971-03	Blue Mitchell
(aka Soul Village)	Mainstream	1971
1971-06	Vital Blue	Mainstream	1971
1972	Blues' Blues	Mainstream	1972
1972	The Last Tango = Blues	Mainstream	1973
1973-03-01	Graffiti Blues	Mainstream	1973
1974	Many Shades of Blue	Mainstream	1974
1975	Stratosonic Nuances	RCA	1975
1976	Funktion Junction	RCA	1976
1977-04-14	Mapenzi	Concord Jazz	1977	with Harold Land
1977-04-28, -29	Stablemates	Candid	1977
1977	African Violet	Impulse!	1978
1977	Summer Soft	Impulse!	1978
::

As sideman

::data[format=table]

Year recorded	Leader	Title	Label	Year released
1952–54	Lou Donaldson	Quartet/Quintet/Sextet	Blue Note	1957
1958	Cannonball Adderley	Portrait of Cannonball	Riverside	1958
1959	Horace Silver	Finger Poppin'	Blue Note	1959
1959	Philly Joe Jones	Drums Around the World	Riverside	1959
1959	Horace Silver	Blowin' the Blues Away	Blue Note	1959
1959	Philly Joe Jones	Showcase	Riverside	1959
1959	Lou Donaldson	The Time Is Right	Blue Note	1960
1959–60	Jackie McLean	Jackie's Bag	Blue Note	1961
1960	Sam Jones	The Soul Society	Riverside	1960
1960	Jimmy Smith	Open House	Blue Note	1968
1960	Jimmy Smith	Plain Talk	Blue Note	1968
1960	Jackie McLean	Capuchin Swing	Blue Note	1960
1960	Charlie Rouse	Takin' Care of Business	Jazzland	1960
1960	Horace Silver	Horace-Scope	Blue Note	1960
1960	Bobby Timmons	Soul Time	Riverside	1960
1960	Jackie McLean & Tina Brooks	Street Singer	Blue Note	1980
1960	Tina Brooks	Back to the Tracks	Blue Note	1998
1960	Sonny Red	Breezing	Jazzland	1961
1961	Sam Jones	The Chant	Riverside	1961
1961	Philly Joe Jones and Elvin Jones	Together!	Atlantic	1961
1961	Horace Silver	Doin' the Thing	Blue Note	1961
1961	Elmo Hope	Homecoming!	Riverside	1961
1961	Junior Cook	Junior's Cookin'	Jazzland	1961
1961	Sonny Red	Images	Jazzland	1962
1961	Les McCann	Les McCann Ltd. in New York	Pacific Jazz	1962
1962	Red Garland	Red's Good Groove	Jazzland	1962
1962	Horace Silver	The Tokyo Blues	Blue Note	1962
1962	Sonny Stitt	Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass	Atlantic	1963
1962	Sam Jones	Down Home	Riverside	1962
1963	Harold Vick	Steppin' Out!	Blue Note	1963
1963	Horace Silver	Silver's Serenade	Blue Note	1963
1963	Stanley Turrentine	A Chip Off the Old Block	Blue Note	1964
1963	Freddie Roach	Good Move!	Blue Note	1963
1963–64	Horace Silver	Song for My Father	Blue Note	1965
1964	Stanley Turrentine	In Memory Of	Blue Note	1979
1965	Big John Patton	Oh Baby!	Blue Note	1965
1965	George Benson	Benson Burner	Columbia	1967
1966	Joe Zawinul	Money in the Pocket	Atlantic	1966
1966	Harold Vick	The Caribbean Suite	RCA Victor	1967
1966	Stanley Turrentine	Rough 'n' Tumble	Blue Note	1966
1966	Richard "Groove" Holmes	Soul Mist!	Prestige	1970
1966	Stanley Turrentine	The Spoiler	Blue Note	1967
1967	Stanley Turrentine	A Bluish Bag	Blue Note	2007
1967	Stanley Turrentine	The Return of the Prodigal Son	Blue Note	2008
1967	Hank Mobley	Hi Voltage	Blue Note	1968
1967	Lou Donaldson	Mr. Shing-A-Ling	Blue Note	1968
1968	Lou Donaldson	Midnight Creeper	Blue Note	1968
1968	Yusef Lateef	The Blue Yusef Lateef	Atlantic	1968
1968	Cedar Walton	Spectrum	Prestige	1968
1968	Don Patterson	Opus De Don	Prestige	1968
1968	Jimmy McGriff	The Worm	Solid State	1968
1968	Lou Donaldson	Say It Loud!	Blue Note	1969
1968	Jimmy McGriff	Step 1	Solid State	1969
1968	Harold Mabern	Rakin' and Scrapin'	Prestige	1969
1969	Cedar Walton	The Electric Boogaloo Song	Prestige	1969
1969	Charles Kynard	The Soul Brotherhood	Prestige	1969
1969	Jimmy McGriff	A Thing to Come By	Solid State	1969
1969	Jimmy McGriff	Electric Funk	Blue Note	1970
1969–70	Lou Donaldson	Everything I Play Is Funky	Blue Note	1970
1970	Ray Charles	My Kind of Jazz	Tangerine	1970
1970	Grant Green	Green Is Beautiful	Blue Note	1970
1970	Lou Donaldson	Pretty Things	Blue Note	1970
1970	David "Fathead" Newman	Captain Buckles	Cotillion	1971
1971	Stanley Turrentine	The Sugar Man	CTI	1975
1971	John Mayall	Jazz Blues Fusion	Polydor	1972
1972	Papa John Creach	Filthy!	Grunt	1972
1972	John Mayall	Moving On	Polydor	1972
1973?	John Mayall	Ten Years Are Gone	Polydor	1973
1974	Louie Bellson	Louie Rides Again!	Percussion Power	1974
1975	Louis Bellson	The Louis Bellson Explosion	Pablo	1975
1975	Bobby Hutcherson	Montara	Blue Note	1975
1976	Carmen McRae	Can't Hide Love	Blue Note	1976
1976	Cedar Walton	Beyond Mobius	RCA	1976
1976	Al Cohn, Dexter Gordon	True Blue	Xanadu	1976
1976	Al Cohn, Dexter Gordon	Silver Blue	Xanadu	1976
1976	Dolo Coker	Dolo!	Xanadu	1977
1976	Dolo Coker	California Hard	Xanadu	1977
1974–77	Sam Jones	Something in Common	Muse	1977
1977	Sam Jones	Changes & Things	Xanadu	1978
1978	Philly Joe Jones	Advance!	Galaxy	1979
1978	Philly Joe Jones	Drum Song	Galaxy	1985
::

References

References

1. (1992). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
2. "Blue Mitchell | Biography & History".
3. "Eric Siereveld's Organic Quintet: Thesis and Recording for the Jazz Trumpeter, Citing Recordings Featuring Blue Mitchell, Woody Shaw, Ryan Kisor and Jim Rotondi. - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries".
4. Blue Mitchell: Plays for Lovers, performed by Blue Mitchell, 1930-1979, Wynton Kelly, 1931-1971, Sam Jones, 1935-, Philly Joe Jones, 1923-1985 and Clark Terry, 1920-2015 (Riverside, 2003), 1 hour 2 mins, 13 page(s)
5. (2001). "African American jazz and rap: social and philosophical examinations of Black expressive behavior". McFarland.
6. (2015-03-05). "Orrin Keepnews, record producer - obituary".
7. Yanow, Scott. (2001). "The trumpet kings: the players who shaped the sound of jazz trumpet". Backbeat Books.
8. (2015). "Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 126". Gale Cengage Learning.

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