Billy Mitchell
tenor saxophone
Detroit tenor saxophonist whom Barry names among the good older musicians his generation learned from; Barry played with him at the Bluebird.
- mentions
- 3
- recordings
- 2
- Barry speaking
- 2
What Barry says
Asked for an overview of the Detroit scene, Barry says it was very special because there were many good older musicians to learn from: Cokie, Warren Hickey, Billy Mitchell and a whole lot more who could play, with Thad Jones and Frank Foster around too.
Telling the Bluebird story on Detroit TV, Barry says he played there with quite a few people: when Miles Davis was living in Detroit, with Yusef Lateef (the captions garble the name), and with Billy Mitchell.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future32:32
Calling New York a finishing school, where players like Coleman Hawkins would go after any new tenor player in town and tear him up, Barry seems to give Frank Foster and Billy Mitchell as examples; the captions are garbled here.
On Coleman Hawkins0:00
Remembering Gene Ammons playing from the back of a Detroit club, Barry recalls Frank Foster and, he thinks, Billy Mitchell at the microphone.
In his own words
We had older musicians who were good musicians. We had Cokie, we had Warren Hickey, we had Billy Mitchell, we had a whole lot of cats who could play.
I played there when Miles Davis was living in Detroit... and I played there with Billy Mitchell and I played there with quite a few people
Every mention
3 moments in the recordings, 2 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
On Coleman Hawkins
- 0:00
New York as finishing school, where new tenor players got torn up; seems to cite Foster and Mitchell. Garbled.
In the interviews and notes
Barry says Detroit was very special because the young players learned from good older musicians, naming Cokie, Warren Hickey and Billy Mitchell, with Thad Jones and Frank Foster around as well.
Recalling how Gene Ammons would play from the back of a Detroit club, Barry places Frank Foster and perhaps Billy Mitchell at the microphone.
Flanagan says the Bluebird had music for a long time; even before Thad Jones made it well known, the pianist Philip Hill had a group there, he thinks with Billy Mitchell. In the DownBeat feature he lists Mitchell among those who had bands there and brought in guest saxophonists such as Wardell Gray.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶44Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶12
The producer Don Schlitten says he probably first heard Barry on his 1956 records, and that being a Billy Mitchell fan helped there.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶143Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶144
Panken lists Mitchell among the saxophonists of Barry’s Detroit peer group, and names him first among the contemporaries who came to New York around the same time.
Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶5Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶66
De Lima lists Mitchell, with Warren Hickey, Thad Jones and Frank Foster, among the good musicians who taught Barry in Detroit.
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.