Trumpeter Blue Mitchell had been a sideman on Blue Note sessions led by Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Smith, Jackie McLean, and appeared on numerous classics as a member of the Horace Silver Quintet before he began recording his own leader albums for the label. Following The Thing to Do and Down With It, Mitchell headed back into Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in 1966 to record Bring It Home To Me, a soulful hard bop date that featured the trumpeter with Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Harold Mabern on piano, Gene Taylor on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Steeped in the blues and deeply funky, the six-song set found the band performing Mitchell originals (“Blues 3 for 1” and “Blue’s Theme”) as well as a pair of compositions by Jimmy Heath (“Bring It Home To Me” and “Gingerbread Boy”), and a stunning rendition of the ballad “Portrait of Jennie.”
