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| Mike Mitchell, far right, is known for his colorful dress,smile. |
Mike Mitchell is an explosive young drummer. At the age of
20, he is travelling the world and playing with a legend of music, bass player
Stanley Clarke. He is the latest in a jazz tradition of young drummers joining
established bands.
Branford Marsalis, from the legendary New Orleans jazz family,
was one of the veteran band leaders to bring up a young drummer. “The Branford
Marsalis Quartet marks an exciting new era with this record, the band’s first
since hiring drummer Justin Faulkner three years ago,” read the liner notes
from the album Four MFs Playing tunes. “There is a decades-long tradition in
jazz of young drummers joining established, veteran bands and helping spark the
music to a new level. The most famous example occurred in 1963 when
seventeen-year-old Tony Williams joined the Miles Davis Quintet, a legendary
institution that at the time included Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Ron
Carter. The young Williams brought an explosive but versatile touch and the
band went to a different level. Sometimes a brilliant, still-forming young
drummer can ignite fire.
“Drummer Justin Faulkner subbed for the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s
longtime drummer, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, on a one-off gig in 2007 when he was only
sixteen years old. When Watts left the quartet in early 2009, after twenty-five
remarkable years, he left a hole that not many artists could fill. Faulkner was
invited to step in. He was eighteen years old.
“The skill, power, and artistry are the same as always, but
Faulkner has injected a lighter, buoyant brand of melodic propulsion to this
unit. He’s like an inspired rookie joining a champion basketball team and
extending the team’s run of titles by adding eagerness and versatility to go
along with serious talent.”
Jazz fans are observing to see if and how Mike Mitchell affects the Stanley Clarke Band which also includes Beka Gochiashvili on piano and Cameron Graves keys.
Mike Mitchell is an ambitious young man. He has already put
out his own album as a bandleader; an album called Wifi with his Dallas band
Rache. The music is a cornucopia of sound, as diverse and outlandish as Mike Mitchell’s style of
dress!
On the album Wifi, the song Bump Song brings out a familiar
sound to anyone who has heard Mike Mitchell’s band play around Dallas; call it
Mike Mitchell and Rache’s signature sound: a little stop-and-go, bouncy,
electronica sound.
Another song George Bush features rapper Lord Byron. Iga,
also has a rap lead-in followed by the pita-pat of Mike Mitchell’s drumming.
Birry brings out Mike Mitchell’s neck-breaking speed drumming and returns to
the band signature sound.
The band slows down a bit on Hrmni Projeckt and 7th
Day – some unusual names – there is an organ and they sound like hymns, a
tribute to his home of Dallas which is known for its gospel sound.
--- (those dashes is the name of the song!) returns to
electronica and a rather funky sound. The song, Wisdom, is a hilarious,
foul-mouthed tale of life as a musician – don’t fall off the merry-go-round, you’ll
get hit in the head!
