Mitch Mitchell

For the Guided by Voices guitarist, see Mitch Mitchell (guitarist).

For other people named John Mitchell, see John Mitchell (disambiguation).

Mitch Mitchell
Background information
Birth name	John Ronald Mitchell
Born	9 July 1947(1947-07-09) Ealing, London, England
Died	12 November 2008(2008-11-12) (aged 61) Portland, Oregon, United States
Genres	Rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, jazz fusion
Instruments	Drums, vocals, percussion
Years active	1966–2008
Associated acts	The Coronets, Johnny Harris and the Shades, The Pretty Things, Georgie Fame, The Riot Squad, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, Gypsy Sun Experience, The Dirty Mac, Ramatam, The Who

John Ronald "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 1947 – 12 November 2008) was an English drummer, best known for his work in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Biography

Early life and the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Before joining the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mitchell gained considerable musical experience touring and as a session musician. He also had an acting background, and had starred in a children's television programme, Jennings and Derbyshire, when he was a teenager. He became a musician through working for Jim Marshall at his drum shop on Saturdays while still at school. Pre-Experience bands included Frankie Reid and the Casuals (1962), Johnny Harris and the Shades, The Pretty Things, Bill Knight & The Sceptres, The Riot Squad, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, and The Who as a session drummer while the band was deciding on a replacement (Keith Moon) for Doug Sandom. Mitchell auditioned for Hendrix's band in October 1966, beating out drummers including Aynsley Dunbar, was their other final choice. Mitchell won the job on the flip of a coin.

Mitchell was praised for his work with the Jimi Hendrix Experience on the songs "Manic Depression", "Stepping Stone", "Little Miss Strange", "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", "Fire" and "Third Stone from the Sun". Mitchell came from a jazz background and like many of his contemporaries was influenced by Elvin Jones, Max Roach, and Joe Morello.

Mitchell played in Hendrix's Experience trio from October 1966 to mid-1969, in his Woodstock band of August 1969, and also with the later incarnation of the Experience in 1970 with Billy Cox on bass, known posthumously as the "Cry of Love" band. Hendrix would often record with Mitchell only, and the two were particularly "tight" during live sets as a result.

In December 1968, Mitchell played The Dirty Mac, and all-star band assembled for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Others included John Lennon as vocalist and rhythm guitarist "Winston Leg-Thigh"; Yoko Ono providing improvised primal screams; Eric Clapton as guitarist, and Keith Richards as bassist. The group recorded a cover of "Yer Blues" as well as a jam called "Whole Lotta Yoko". While was working with the Band of Gypsys from late 1969 until early 1970, Mitchell also collaborated with the Jack Bruce and Friends band along with ex-Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, keyboardist Mike Mandel and jazz-fusion guitarist and future The Eleventh House frontman Larry Coryell. Mitchell also took part in Miles Davis' demo sessions for the 1969 album Bitches Brew, but did not appear on the final album.

Post-Hendrix

After Hendrix's death, Mitchell finished production work with engineer Eddie Kramer on incomplete Hendrix recordings, resulting in the releases The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge. In 1972, he teamed up with guitarists Mike Pinera and April Lawton to form Ramatam. They recorded one album and were Emerson, Lake & Palmer's opening act at a number of concerts. Mitchell and Hendrix had been offered spots in the band Keith Emerson and Greg Lake were forming, but Carl Palmer got the drum position instead. Ramatam never achieved commercial success and Mitchell left the act before their second LP was released. Mitchell also performed in concerts with Terry Reid, Jack Bruce, and Jeff Beck as a substitute for drummer Cozy Powell.

Michael Jeffery, Hendrix's manager, relegated Mitchell and Noel Redding to paid employees without an ownership share in future revenues. This limited their earnings and led to Mitchell and Redding being largely excluded from sharing in revenues generated from the Experience. Financial hardship pressured Mitchell in the mid-1970s to sell a prized Hendrix guitar. He also sold his small legal claim to future Hendrix record sales for a sum for about $200,000. In 1974, he auditioned for Paul McCartney's band Wings, but was turned down in favour of Geoff Britton.

For the rest of the 1970s through to the 1990s, Mitchell, semi-retired and living in Europe, continued to perform and occasionally record. He did session work on Junior Brown's Long Walk Back album and participated in various Hendrix-related recordings, videos, and interviews. In 1999, Mitchell appeared on the Bruce Cameron's album Midnight Daydream that included Billy Cox and Buddy Miles along with Jack Bruce.

In 2005, he was named the 23rd greatest drummer of all time by Rolling Stone.

Death

His last days were spent celebrating Hendrix's music on the 2008 Experience Hendrix Tour. For nearly four weeks the tour travelled on an 18-city tour of the US, finishing in Portland, Oregon. The tour also featured Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Cesar Rosas, David Hidalgo, Aerosmith's Brad Whitford, Hubert Sumlin, Chris Layton as well as Eric Gales and Mato Nanji. Five days after the tour ended Mitchell had died in his sleep on 12 November, in his room at the Benson Hotel in Portland. of "natural causes". Mitchell had been in ill health for many years due to alcohol-related problems. He was the last surviving member of the original Experience. Mitchell had planned to leave Portland that day to return to home to England.^{[citation needed]} He was buried in Seattle.

He is survived by his wife, daughter and two grandchildren.^{[citation needed]}

Style

Mitchell pioneered a style of drumming which would later become known as fusion^{[citation needed]}. This is a "lead" style of playing distinguished by interplay with lead instruments such as guitar or keyboards, and the blending of jazz and rock drumming styles. Though the use of lead drums was not a new concept in jazz, it was relatively unheard of in rock. Upon joining Hendrix in late 1966, it became evident to Mitchell that the trio format of the band was similar to the recently formed Cream, and that it would allow him to become more free with his playing. Like a jazz drummer, Mitchell's playing not only provided a rhythmic support for the music, but also a source of momentum and melody. He made heavy use of snare rudiments, fast single and double stroke rolls, and jazz triplet patterns, and shifted between both traditional and matched grips. Examples of his style include the rudiment-heavy fills on Hey Joe, which help to carry the song through a series of increasingly intense climaxes. Manic Depression is a 3/4 rock waltz that finds Mitchell playing a driving Afro-Cuban inspired beat, which then shifts to an explosion of triplets around the drumkit during the outro.

Third Stone from the Sun incorporates a swing ride pattern to underpin Hendrix's jazzy surf guitar, and the spacey breakdown section features polyrhythmic drum fills that float over the 4/4 meter. 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) features military-style snare drum work and delicate cymbal playing that evokes the sound of wind chimes. The long blues jam Voodoo Chile features Mitchell playing a deep blues groove with subtle hi-hat accenting and powerful drum fills.

Discography

• 1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced
• 1968: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love
• 1968: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
• 1969: Martha Velez – Fiends and Angels
• 1971: Jimi Hendrix – The Cry Of Love
• 1971: Jimi Hendrix – Rainbow Bridge
• 1972: Jimi Hendrix – War Heroes
• 1972: Ramatam – Ramatam
• 1980: Roger Chapman – Mail Order Magic
• 1986: Greg Parker – 'Black Dog'
• 1998: Junior Brown- Long Walk Back
• 1999: Bruce Cameron- Midnight Daydream
• 2010: Jimi Hendrix – Valleys of Neptune

External links

• Mitch Mitchell/John Mitchell at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary in The Times
• Obituary in The Daily Telegraph
• Remembered at NPR
• Mitch Mitchell at Find a Grave