RIP Ollie Mitchell, Trumpet Legend

[guitarfool2002]

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?197084-Ollie-Mitchell-1927-2013

I'm not finding too much background info on this, but trumpeter and studio legend Ollie Mitchell passed away this week after battling cancer. He was among the few first-call trumpet players in Hollywood for decades, and can be heard on various Beach Boys sessions including "Child Is Father Of The Man". His resume is massive, he is in that elite group of session musicians who seems to have played on every other famous TV or movie theme you can think of between 1960-1990. I think the number of sessions he would play each year reached over 400 dates, which is staggering.

Another musician where it could be said millions have heard him play and know his work well enough to sing along with his work, but no one really knows his name outside the music community.

Another studio legend gone. It would be neat to post a short list of the famous sessions he played, but with him he did so many it's hard to narrow down.

[c-man]

Sad news indeed.  News like this is becoming all to common these days.  The good news is we're able to place names to a lot of the instruments on our favorite recording sessions nowadays!

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Wow, the chorus for CIFTTM was just playing as I read this. Spooky!

RIP Ollie

[SMiLE Brian]

RIP, glad to see his BBs contribution was released.

[guitarfool2002]

Finally, in the past 24 hours, an "official" newspaper obituary has been published from his home area in Hawaii, here is the link:

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/musician-bandleader-ollie-mitchell-dies.html

Apart from his recorded credits, which everyone here has heard but may not realize it, Ollie had a non-profit dedicated to spreading big band music and education to young players in his area, and as you'll read in the obit, he provided the students instruments, music, stage equipment, and his time and knowledge to help them learn and play big band jazz. Among those with him in that venture was another Wrecking Crew player, trombonist "Slyde" Hyde who also pops up all over classic album credits.

It's unusual to see the lack of coverage, really, but I guess it's understandable in a way because he's been in Hawaii since the 70's and hasn't been as media-friendly as some of his associates from the 60's.

To say he was among the best trumpet players of his era would be an understatement.

I hope apart from those who have posted in this thread folks realize just how good he was and how much his playing contributed to records we'd all consider "classics".

Spread the word.