Click here to listen to Mitch Mitchell playing "Hey Joe [Musker]"
He was one of the most influencial drummers of the late 60's and early 70's, he was strongly influenced by the jazz legends of Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones,and Buddy Rich.
He was given a complete free roll as drummer with The Jimi Hendrix Experience when keeping the grooves grounded and solid.
Mitch would play different kits but he favoured playing Premier Drums.
He pioneered a style of drumming which would later be called "Fusion",this is a lead type of playing where he would often go off in the middle of a song and lead the band into a different groove.
While keeping time at all times, Jimi loved this style of play and it would give the music so much freedom.
Mitch say's that whatever beat i would throw at Jimi he would just throw
it straight back at me so i was always kept busy working with The Jimi
Hendrix Experience, it was agreat time and we had alot of fun. Jimi said
at one time that mitch was the most important musical collaborator
playing in The Experience.
John Mitchell was born in 1947 in London and as he was growing up he got the nickname Mitch due to his surname, he was a talented youngster and he was a child actor making lot's of appearances in T.V Commercials.
He
got a saturday job at Jim Marshalls Music shop in London (Jim Marshall
is very famous for his amplifiers) mitch had drumming lessons in his
lunch hour at the shop and he just as he says fell in love with
drumming. He made a name for himself as he would get all of the depping
job's that other drummers could not do.
Mitch also met the likes of Jimmy Page,from Led Zeppelin and he played with Jimmy and John Paul Jones before led Zeppelin were born through his
job at the music shop he would meet lot's of session musicians, as the music shop was in a trendy part of London where musicians would regularly meet.
Mitch got a call from Chaz Chandler who was a bass guitarist with The Animals and he said do you fancy coming to a studio tomorrow as i am now managing a great guitarist from America.
We have been auditioning drummers for the past week and your name has been recommended. Mitch said have you got much work lined up and the answer was we have 2 weeks work coming up as a support act on a major tour.
Mitch made his way to the studio of which was a very dirty place but with nothing to lose set up his drums and before they kicked into the first number he was introduced to Jimi and their was also a guitarist there whose name was Noel Redding, he was playing bass guitar for the first time as he was avery accomplished guitarist.
Jimi said lets just jam on a 12 bar riff, it went on and on it was clear to everyone that Jimi was delighted with Mitch's playing and he was offered the gig along with Noel Redding as the bass player.
Chaz told them that the name for the band was The Jimi Hendrix Experience. With tour supports for many major bands it was'nt long before they were
signed to a record label they would release many records of which
featured Mitch at his very best.
The drumkit that Mitch used alot was a Premier drumkit
comprising of
22inch by 14inch Bass Drum
Premier 2000 Snare Drum
14inch by 8inch Hanging Tom Tom
14inch by 14inch Floor Tom Tom
16inch by 16inch Floor Tom Tom
All of his cymbals were Zildjian's
14inch Hi Hat's
16inch Crash
18inch Crash Ride
20inch Riveted Ride
My personal favourite part of Mitch's work with Hendrix was their
performance at Woodstock Music festival
My personal favourite tracks by The Jimi Hendrix Experience were as
follows
Hey Joe
Manic Depression
Crosstown Traffic
All along The Watch Tower
Hey Baby
Plus any of the BBC Sessions
Mitch Mitchell a True Drumming Legend, his legacy is an indispensible
part of The Jimi Hendrix Sound. (don't you agree)
He was one of the most influencial drummers of the late 60's and early 70's, he was strongly influenced by the jazz legends of Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones,and Buddy Rich.
Mitch say's that whatever beat i would throw at Jimi he would just throw
Mitch also met the likes of Jimmy Page,from Led Zeppelin and he played with Jimmy and John Paul Jones before led Zeppelin were born through his
Mitch made his way to the studio of which was a very dirty place but with nothing to lose set up his drums and before they kicked into the first number he was introduced to Jimi and their was also a guitarist there whose name was Noel Redding, he was playing bass guitar for the first time as he was avery accomplished guitarist.