Blue MITCHELL - A Sure Thing 1962

Blue MITCHELL - A Sure Thing 1962
Label: Ojc
Audio CD: (January 25, 1995)

Jazz

Mitchell (b. 13 March 1930) got his first break at 22 when he crashed a Lou
Donaldson session for Blue Note. Before the day was done, Mitchell had sat in on a
couple tunes, contributing a stately, rounded solo to the title cut on Donaldson’s
release If I Love Again. Then he joined John Coltrane and Benny Golson in the Earl
Bostic band – imagine those rehearsals!! – and toured with Sarah Vaughan.
Cannonball Adderly heard him in Miami in the late 50s and promptly arranged for
him to sign with Riverside. First, Mitchell worked on Adderly’s Portrait of
Cannonball, and then he made his first date as a leader, Big Six. In all, he made eight
records for Riverside; nearly half-a-century later they stand up nicely. The titles tend
to riff, predictably, on his adopted first name (he was born Richard), but this is
misleading, for his main currency wasn’t the blues. So, for example, on Blues on My
Mind, the highlights are “It Could Happen to You” and
“There Will Never Be Another You,” although the title track has a wonderful spare
passage in the middle of Mitchell’s solo that helps you realize that Mitchell’s mind
could turn plenty blue. If you want to pick one Riverside date, check out Blue’s
Moods, with a dream rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, and Roy Brooks.
The quartet bops hard on a driving version of Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple from The
Apple,” and Mitchell casts an intensely contemplative mood on “Kinda Vague.” His
stripped-down variations on “When I Fall In Love” make it one of the surpassing
ballad recordings of the era. ***A Sure Thing, from 1962***, is an intriguing date, with
Mitchell leading a nonet with arrangements by Mitchell’s devoted friend, Jimmy
Heath, who has always professed an enduring fondness for the session. All the while,
Mitchell also held down the trumpet chair in Horace Silver’s hard-bop band, whose
recordings preserve Mitchell’s unfailingly precise intonation and his consummate taste,
even as he served as foil for Silver’s funky, diverse leanings.
By Fritz Byers.
**
Blue Mitchell- Trumpet
Clark Terry- Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Julius Watkins- French horn
Jerome Richardson- Alto sax, Flute
Jimmy Heath- Tenor sax
Pepper Adams- Baritone sax
Wynton Kelly- Piano
Sam Jones- Bass
Albert "Tootie" Heath- Drums
**
01. West Coast Blues (5:40)
02. I Can't Get Started With You (3:48)
03. Blue On Blue (4:48)
04. A Sure Thing (4:34)
05. Hootie Blues (5:24)
06. Hip To It (5:00)
07. Gone With The Wind (5:57)
**
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