Billy Mitchell
b. 3 November 1926, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Mitchell studied in Detroit and worked with Nat Towles's band in the late '40s before moving to New York with Lucky Millender's Orchestra. He spent a couple of months in Woody Herman's Second Herd, and then lead his own bop quintet back in Detroit, which included Thad Jones on trumpet and Elvin Jones on drums (1950-53). In the mid-50s, after a couple of years with Dizzy Gillespie, he recorded with Ray Charles and joined Count Basie's Orchestra. He co-led a sextet with ex-Basie trombonist Al Grey, and worked as musical director for Stevie Wonder in the mid-60s, before rejoining Basie (1966-67). He uses a tough, bluesy tone to construct fluent solo lines. In the '70s Mitchell settled in New York and undertook studio work, as well as teaching and performing with the Xanadu All Stars.