George Mitchell (jazz musician)

George "Little Mitch " Mitchell ( born March 8, 1899 in Louisville ( Kentucky), † May 27, 1972 in Chicago ) was an American cornetist and trumpeter of Hot Jazz.

Life and work

Mitchell began the age of twelve in the school band to play the day hit on the trumpet. He then toured with a regional band through Kentucky and worked with minstrel shows in the South before moving to Chicago in 1919. There he was a member of the bands of Tony Jackson ( 1920), Carroll Dickerson ( 1923-1924 ), Doc Cook ( 1926-1927 ) and Dave Peyton (1927 ), but also took with Jimmie Noone ( 1928-1929 ), Lil Hardin Armstrong (1926, New Orleans Wanderers / New Orleans boat Blacks ), Kid Ory (1926) and Johnny Dodds (1927 ) on. 1926 and 1927 he was one of Jelly Roll Morton's " Red Hot Peppers ", which recorded a historically significant jazz interpretations such as " Dead Man Blues ", " The Pearls " or " Steamboat Stomp ". Unfortunately, he never took on under his own name, but also made two recordings with Luis Russell's Hot Six. From 1929 to 1931 he was temporarily the band by Earl Hines and gave, as the working conditions for jazz musicians were difficult during the economic crisis, in 1934 the profession on to work as a bank messenger.

Martin Kunzler, according to the musicians appreciated him as a "great teacher and trumpeter " ( Jonah Jones). However, " the sensitive, swinging trumpet George Mitchell not perceived enough with its clear, concise chorus Work" by the public, so that he remained " in the shadow of King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Henry Red Allen ".

Lexigraphic entries

• Bohländer Carlo, Loeb Classical Jazz Guide Stuttgart 1970
• Martin Kunzler, Jazz Encyclopedia Vol 2 Reinbek 2002; ISBN 3-499-16513-9