Saturday, August 21, 2010

Billy Mitchell - The Colossus of Detroit


The sound on this always killed it for me, but my father absolutely loves this record. He's searched in vain for it on CD for years. It's been on my list to digitize, and now, I'm in that mode, so here it be. Killer lineup, and simply a solid Jazz record, in spite of the sound. Can't understand why this stuff hasn't seen the light of day, yet. Micheal Cuscuna, where are you? Track 5 is an understated duet with Harris, but track 6 is absolutely BURNIN'!!!

  1. Recorda-me
  2. I Had The Craziest Dream
  3. I Should Care
  4. Unforgettable
  5. How Am I To Know?
  6. Be My Guest
Billy Mitchell - tenor sax
Barry Harris - piano
Sam Jones - bass
Walter Bolden - drums

Recorded April 18, 1978

Xanadu 158

More Xanadus to come shortly

8 comments:

Brad Geiger said...

Thanks. Love anything off the Xanadu label.

bayviewsax-lostsoul.blogspot.com said...

Glad you enjoyed it -- more to come!

Brad Geiger said...

BTW, bayview, I have vinyl rips of Popo (Xanadu 148 with Art Pepper & Shorty Rogers) plus some gems from the Onyx label (Don Byas, Sonny Berman, Hot Lips Page) that I consider equally significant. Kudos to you unearthing these OOP masterpieces.

bayviewsax-lostsoul.blogspot.com said...

I'm not familiar with either of those, but I love both Pepper and Byas.

Stu said...

I found this record in Minneapolis at Hymie's just two weeks after your post. The way they isolate Mitchell's sax and place it in the mix is fantastic. What a great album.

Cosmo Vitelli said...

Thank you for mentioning this!
I long lost track of this record and am in costant search for a Xanadu sessioni I do not already know (many thankfully). Thank you for your fine blog and for keeping notice of thesse great artists and their work (and Don Schlitten's in the case).

Andy said...

I'm pleased to find the link still working. I just came upon Billy Mitchell on youtube and ended up at your blog. I think the sound and the music is great. So thank you very much indeed.

bayviewsax-lostsoul.blogspot.com said...

You're very welcome. Billy Mitch is one of the great unsung heroes of this music and I'm always please when somebody digs and/or discovers him. I recommend his album THIS IS BILLY MITCHELL with Bobby Hutcherson. Not a bad nor less-than-honest moment on it. True beauty in Jazz form at its finest. Dig.