Synopsis of Selected Albums

BLUE MITCHELL

Blue’s Moods

Blue Mitchell possessed one of the truly individual trumpet sounds: richly lmelodic but always strong—clearly in the tradition of Clifford Brown, but very much his own voice. The series of Riverside albums that established him on the jazz scene, beginning at the end of the 1950s, usually presented him in at least three-horn ensembles; this was his only quartet set. Fully in the spotlight, Mitchell moves most effectively through a widely varied repertoire that covers standards, blues, originals, and a Charles Parker classic. There is flawless rhythm support from all-stars Wynton Kelly and Sam Jones, and drummer Roy Brooks (Blue’s bandmate during part of his many years with the Horace Silver Quartet).

I’ll Close My Eyes, Avars, Scrapple From the Apple, Kinda Vague, Sir John, When I Fall In Love, Sweet Pumpkin, I Wish I Knew

With Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, Roy Brooks

BLUE MITCHELL

Big 6

At a time when most young trumpet players were modeling themselves on Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, or Clifford Brown, Blue Mitchell was a new quality. With his precision, harmonic ingenuity, and a hint of melancholy in his warm tone that suggested the mellowness of a cornet, Mitchell brought modern excitement contrasted with a lyricism that was somehow old-fashioned. This is Mitchell at 28, in his first album as a leader, recommended to Riverside’s Orrin Keepnews by Cannonball Adderley and living up to Adderley’s enthusiastic billing. Teamed with five of the major players of the day, Mitchell not only holds his own but is clearly in command of the proceedings. Mitchell had arrived in New York from Florida fully equipped for the fame that he would shortly achieve.

Blues March, Big Six, There Will Never Be Another You, Brother ‘Ball, Jamph, Sir John, Promenade

With Johnny Griffin, Curtis Fuller, Wynton Kelly, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones

BLUE MITCHELL QUINTET

Out of the Blue

Firmly established by Big 6 as a new star in the Riverside stable of artists, Blue Mitchell in late 1958 took Benny Golson and a stellar rhythm section into the studio for Out of the Blue. Having been heralded by Cannonball Adderley as “something different,” Mitchell brought to modern jazz an uncloying and nostalgic sweetness that predated the bebop trumpet heroes wheo influenced but did not dominate his style. Golson’s tenor saxophone playing, full of muscle and liquidity, made a fine match and foil for Mitchell. Some of Golson’s best work of the period is in this album. They are handsomely supported by pianist Wynton Kelly, drummer Art Blakely, and bassists Paul Chambers and Sam Jones.

Blues on My Mind, It Could Happen to You, Boomerang, Sweet-Cakes, Missing You, When the Saints Go Marching In

With Benny Golson, Wynton Kelly, Cedar Walton, Paul Chambers, Sam Jones, Art Blakely

BLUE MITCHELL SEXTET

Blue Soul

The 1959 sextet date displays attention to program and preparation too rare at the time. Trumpeter Blue Mitchell and a stellar group play compositions and arrangements by Benny Golson, a recognized master of the small-band format in his prime, and Jimmy Heath, a Philadelphia contemporary of Golson’s and John Coltrane’s who ended a lengthy recording absence and began his important association with Riverside on this session. Throughout the well-chosen and diverse material, and the heavy swing of a great rhythm section. Mitchell’s horn remains a model of intimate and balanced lyricism. This was a milestone album for the trumpeter, and heralded his greatest years in the Horace Silver Quintet and on Riverside Records.

Minor Vamp, The Head, The Way You Look Tonight, Park Avenue Petite, Top Shelf, Waverly Street, Blue Soul, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Nica’s Dream

With Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath, Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, Philly Joe Jones

BLUE MITCHELL

The Cup Bearers

Highlighted by Tom McIntosh’s beautiful title tune, Blue Mitchell’s The Cup Bearers is one of the trumpeter’s most thoughtful and lyrical albums. A member of Horace Silver’s quintet at the time of its recording, Mitchell brought three of his colleagues with him. But this is not re-minted Silver. It is refined Mitchell, presenting two standards and five originals by important young jazz composers. Tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, an ideal partner and foil for Mitchell, turns in some of his finest recorded performances. The rhythm section of Cedar Walton, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks is smooth as silk and strong as steel.

Ocean?, Tiger Lily

With Junior Cook, Cedar Walton, Gene Taylor, Roy Brooks

BLUE MITCHELL

A Sure Thing

Some musicians acquire an image as small-group players through the circumstances of their working career and the particulars of their style. Blue Mitchell was one such musician, and his conception of the trumpet in a quintet context remains influential to this day. Fortunately, Riverside Records appreciated the broader range of Mitchell’s talent, and occasionally placed him in larger settings, where his rich sound and finely chiseled ideas glowed just as brightly. This is one of those projects, and it reunites Mitchell with tenor saxophonist and arranger Junior Heath, who also did valuable double duty on Blue Soul. Baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams and Pat Patrick and pianist Wynton Kelly make notable contributions as well in a session that includes two inspired originals plus covers of such substantial material as the title track and Jay McShann’s “Hootie Blues.”

West Coast Blues, I Can’t Get Started With You, Blue on Blue, A Sure Thing, Hootie Blues, Hip to It, Gone with the Wind

With Julius Walker, Jerome Richardson, Jimmy Heath, Pepper Adams, Pat Patrick, Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, Albert “Tootie” Heath

BLUE MITCHELL

Smooth as the Wind

This is the hidden gem in the small but important library of jazz sessions featuring trumpet soloists with strings. It is built around one of the music’s most melodic and quietly soulful brassmen, Blue Mitchell, and includes seven orchestrations by the fountainhead of modern jazz arranger, Tadd Dameron, as well as three more by Dameron’s primary disciple Benny Golson, who also conducts the orchestra. There is an inspired balsnce to the program, which includes two titiles that Mitchell helped make famous in Horace Silver’s quintet, two of Dameron’s own beautiful lines, and six evocative standards. While Mitchell was an uncommonly consistent soloist throughout his Riverside years, his work here ranks among the most intimate and warm playing of his career, and the rare example of late-period Dameron make the album doubly essential.

Smooth as the Wind, But Beautiful, The Best Things In Life Are Free, Peace, For Heaven’s Sake, The Nearness of You, A Blue Time, Strollin’, For All We Know, I’m a Fool to Want You

With Clark Terry, Bernie Glow, Bert Collins, Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Britt Woodman, Julian Priester, Willie Ruff, Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Williams, Philly Joe Jones, Charlie Persip

BLUE MITCHELL

Blues on My Mind

Brother’Ball, There Will Never Be Another You, Blues on My Mind, It Could Happen to You, When the Saints Go Marching In, Top Shelf, Blue Soul, Sweet Cakes, Park Avenue Petite

With Curtis Fuller, Johnny Griffin, Wynton Kelly, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones, Benny Golson, Sam Jones, Art Blakey, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Heath