Mitch Mitchell

handito

Senior Member
Hi all

I just made a search through the threads and found that there is'nt any about Mitch Mitchell imo the BEST jazz/rock drummer there has ever been BOY that man can groove.
Tell me your opinions on Mitch
 
Mitch was one of my primary inspirations when I was first starting to play, along with Bonham and Moon. He's one of those drummers who started playing jazz and then played rock, instead of the other way around, and I think a lot of my favorite rock drummers started out playing jazz or allowed it to influence their playing style in some way. I love the fact that Mitch was given free reign to do whatever he pleased on the Hendrix recordings, becuase his spirit really comes through and you can tell he's having a blast playing the drums! He has a very unique way of "rollin' and tumblin" over the kit, much like his hero, the late great Elvin Jones. And I found it interesting to learn that Mitch won entry in to the group by means of a coin tossed by the manger. If that coin had landed on the other side, Aynsley Dunbar would have been Jimi's drummer!
 
yeah man, mitch is kickass, my favorite drummer actually :)
also doesnt ever seem to get the respect and credit, all attention for 60s drummers is directed at moon, baker and bonham.

wait until tomorrow
castles made of sand
spanish castle magic
hey joe
love or confusion
are you experienced
fire
manic depression
izabella
crosstown traffic
gypsy eyes
3rd stone from the sun

man, there wasnt a thing the kid couldnt play, i might get to meet him for my university dissertation! that would be an immense honour :)

so yes, mitch can groove and swing like very few others (plus bags of creativity) and him and hendrix played beautifully off each other. made me realize the interaction possible between guitarist and drummer

peace,
Saif
 
Drifter in the Dark said:
And I found it interesting to learn that Mitch won entry in to the group by means of a coin tossed by the manger. If that coin had landed on the other side, Aynsley Dunbar would have been Jimi's drummer!

while this is partly true (a coin was flipped and mitch's "side" of the coin won), aynsley dunbar was not preferred by jimi AND demanded £10 more weekly wage than mitch.
im glad mitch got it! :)
 
If it weren't for Mitch Mitchell,I wouldn't even be playing the drums.His work on the first three Hendrix albums is unsurpassed.My favourite Mitchell songs are Third Stone From The Sun,1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be),If Six Was Nine,Manic Depression,and I think I'll just stop there or the list will travel into next week...
 
I agree Mitch is overlooked a lot. He was one of my early influences, I can remember trying to play along to "Fire" when I got my first drum set. I really love how he brought jazz swing into rock, his style complemented Hendrick's style so well. I think that the rythum section of Redding, and Mitchell is one of the best if not the best in rock history. They had to be good to hang with Jimi!
 
Hey what a cooincidence that this thread was brought back up! I was just listening to Fire, before I came to the forum!
 
What kind of drumset did he play on at Berkeley in May 1970? Was it his Gretsch or his Ludwig one? Two months later at Maui he was playing a Gretsch double-bass kit. Funny seeing him play his double-bass Ludwig in a single-bass configuration in Woodstock...


He is one of the most underrated drummers as well.
 
Mitch Is awsome, may i remind you that he is still alive and kickin'!. I read a tribute to him in the "Rhythm" magazine, turns out he was taught by the great Jim Marshall, maker of Marshall amps! how lucky!
Little Drummer
 
Great, great drummer. Innovative, groundbreaking, fearless. If you watch those early Hendrix clips, nobody looked cooler then Mitch. He played with this great confidence that just stands out (even when performing next to Jimi!)

The best pic I saw of him was one where is he wearing the usual hippie outfit but also has Converse All-Stars on. Cool!

Does anyone have that image?
 
i like mitch's playing,but at times w/hendrix it could sound a little sloppy,but maybe that's because the drums were tuned(or recorded?) so crappy.
 
dawg said:
i like mitch's playing,but at times w/hendrix it could sound a little sloppy,but maybe that's because the drums were tuned(or recorded?) so crappy.

I think you're partly right on this one. Playing with a musician as volatile and talented as Jimi Hendrix meant that things could (and did) get a little out of hand, but never so much that the music fell apart. As for the drums, realize that Mitch was coming from a jazz perspective and therefore tuned his drums up to achieve better projection. Modern drummers tend to tune their toms low and slack, so that's why the sound may seem "crappy" or foreign to your ear. I will concede that the recording techniques of the 1960's sound lo-fi in comparison to what we have today, but regardless of recording quality or drum tuning, Mitch was always in control of what he did and IMO never played at anything less than his best.
 
Mitch Mitchell really rocks. I especially dig 'Fire', but there are so many good tracks played by him. What did he do after the "Experience"?
 
he was going to be in a band with Larry Coyell and Jack Bruce (of Cream) but it never materialsed. He had a short stint with a band called Ramatam, i think he played on their first album, more like his playing for Georgie Fame, (pre-Hendrix)

after that petered out, he didnt get up to much apart from playing in a band with Billy Cox, makes small appearances here and there, if i do get the chance to meet him, i intend to ask him about this in detail.
 
ellenvannin105 said:
If it weren't for Mitch Mitchell,I wouldn't even be playing the drums.His work on the first three Hendrix albums is unsurpassed.My favourite Mitchell songs are Third Stone From The Sun,1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be),If Six Was Nine,Manic Depression,and I think I'll just stop there or the list will travel into next week...

I've got those three. Brilliant albums, but I think 'The First Rays of The Rising Sun' is probably Hendrix's and Mitch's best.
 
khanedeliac said:
yeah man, mitch is kickass, my favorite drummer actually :)
also doesnt ever seem to get the respect and credit, all attention for 60s drummers is directed at moon, baker and bonham.

wait until tomorrow
castles made of sand
spanish castle magic
hey joe
love or confusion
are you experienced
fire
manic depression
izabella
crosstown traffic
gypsy eyes
3rd stone from the sun

man, there wasnt a thing the kid couldnt play, i might get to meet him for my university dissertation! that would be an immense honour :)

so yes, mitch can groove and swing like very few others (plus bags of creativity) and him and hendrix played beautifully off each other. made me realize the interaction possible between guitarist and drummer

peace,
Saif

izabella was done by buddy miles. i love mitch's playing. fire, voodoo chile, voodoo child, wind cries mary, plenty more of em
 
ndrummerc said:
izabella was done by buddy miles.

yes, originally, but when Hendrix scrapped him, Mitch played it for all performances (woodstock, dick cavett show) and better.... ;)
 
Personally, he has influenced my playing enormously, and helped me realize the "bridge" of sorts that connects rock and jazz. His playing was extremely innovative, and although he is considered a busy drummer by some, his drumming, notably with The Jimi Hendrix Experience (I recommend picking up all 3 of their albums if you dont already own them) is always very musical and appropriately creative.Furthermore, in my opinion, he is one of the most underrated drummers of all time. His "round" interpretations of single strokes around the kit allowed for some unconventional and tasteful fills/drum licks, and he is a true testament of how much can be done with a traditional 4 or 5 piece jazz drumset. Anyone else out there in drum-world feel the same way?
 
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