Tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell had already turned heads
as a key member of Dizzy Gillespie's big band and Count Basie's orchestra in
the mid-'50s before stepping out for the first time as a bandleader on 1962's This
is Billy Mitchell. Here, he leads a sextet reflective of both his
Detroit roots (with fellow natives Herman Wright and Otis Finch
on bass and drums) and his attractive hard bop credentials (Billy Wallace
and Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson on piano and organ, trumpeter Dave
Burns and rising vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson). Together, they
deliver a program that combines modern jazz sophistication with soulful drive,
from burning opener “J&B” to the lush balladry of “Sophisticated Lady.”
This is Billy Mitchell remains his signature album as a leader, embodying the
consistency, warmth and unerring swing that made him a key figure in the
Detroit-to-New York pipeline of postwar jazz.
The Verve Vault series is all-analog, cut from the original master
tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram viny.
