Mitch Mitchell, the drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, has died aged 61.Mitchell was found dead in a hotel room in Portland, where he had been touring with the all-star tribute act, Experience Hendrix.
The cause of death is yet to be established, but first reports suggest that there’s nothing suspicious.
John “Mitch” Mitchell, the child actor star of the TV series Jennings in the late 50s turned drumming legend with the Jimi Hendrix, has died aged 61.
A jazz drummer by trade, Mitch Mitchell played in a number of bands prior to joining the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Mitch had stints in bands such as Johnny Harris and the Shades, The Pretty Things, The Riot Squad and Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, but despite his enormous talent never found a permanent home until former Animals bassist Chas Chandler called him about auditioning for a new band with a prodigious new talent called Jimi Hendrix at the helm. Mitchell fought off competition from a huge number of talented drummers, and reportedly turned down several job offers (including ELP) to bag the job.
The original line-up of the Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded just three albums, but they were three albums that changed the world of music forever with their combination of blues, riffs and psychedelia that helped soundtrack a generation.
The first two tracks on the Experience’s first album, Are You Experienced? – the down and dirty ‘Foxey Lady’ and the psychedlic masterpiece ‘Manic Depression’ – sum up perfectly the soul of Mitch Mitchell’s drumming. A solid, driving beat combined with a free flowing jazzy rhythm that, along with Cream’s Ginger Baker, helped pioneer the term “fusion.” This style was not lost on Jimi Hendrix, who used to feed off Mitchell’s dexterity and flexibility just as much as Mitchell used to feed off Hendrix.
The Experience came to an end in 1969 with Hendrix unable to decide on a musical direction, and although Mitchell played again with a new incarnation of the band the following year with Billy Cox replacing the unfortunate Noel Redding, the reunion would come to a premature end with Jimi’s death in September 1970.
For the next couple of years Mitchell worked with the Experience’s engineer Eddie Kramer to release unreleased and partially completed Hendrix studio material. Cry Of Love and The Rainbow Bridge would be unveiled in 1971 (both contained material that was intended for Hendrix’s First Rays Of The New Rising Sun), while War Heroes would be released in 1972.
Mitchell’s post-Hendrix music career began in the innovative, but commercially unsuccessful Ramatam who released just two albums and only lasted for two years.
And for the past 30 years, Mitchell worked fairly consistently with a number of well known rock stars (including Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Terry Reid) and a host of jazz and blues musicians, and has helped with the numerous posthumous Hendrix releases over the past decade. He was always happy to talk about his time in the band in various documentaries, articles and books. And in 1990 Mitchell published his own book, Jimi Hendrix: Inside The Experience, which detailed his life in the iconic band.
Earlier in 2008 Mitchell came out of semi-retirement to join the Experience Hendrix Tour, an all star touring band that celebrated the iconic guitarist's music, and featured a number of high profile musicians, including Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Cesar Rojas, David Hidalgo, Brad Whitford, Hubert Sumlin, Chris Layton as well as Eric Gales and Mato Nanji. Their tour finished just five days before Mitch Mitchell passed away, and he was due to fly home to England the day he died.
Mitchell was the last member of the original, legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience to pass away following Jimi in 1970 and Noel Redding in 2003.
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