Whitey Mitchell

Gordon "Whitey" Mitchell (February 22, 1932 – January 16, 2009) was an American jazz bassist and television writer/producer. He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Life and career Mitchell was the brother of bassist Red Mitchell. He began on clarinet and tuba as a youngster before choosing bass as his primary instrument. He studied radio & television at Syracuse University and then plunged into the New York jazz scene, becoming a regular at the famed nightspots Birdland and Basin Street East. He led his own groups at The Village Vanguard and The Embers and later toured with big band greats Benny Goodman and Pete Rugolo, played Carnegie Hall with Gene Krupa, appeared with Buddy Rich, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Lester Young on Jazz At The Philharmonic. He played with Elinor Sherry and Shep Fields in the early 1950s before serving in the Army during the Korean War. From 1954 he worked freelance in New York City, playing with Gene Krupa (1955), Mel Tormé, Jack Jones, J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Pete Rugolo, Lester Young, Charlie Ventura, Herbie Mann, Betty Roche, Oscar Pettiford (1956–1957), Gene Quill, Joe Puma, Johnny Richards, Peter Appleyard, André Previn, and Benny Goodman (1963–1964). He performed on hundreds of recording sessions, television and film scores but only released one album under his own leadership on ABC-Paramount in 1956, and one with Red and Blue Mitchell in 1958 as "The Mitchells: Red, Whitey & Blue," released on MetroJazz Records. and Star Walk: A Guide to the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

Mitchell was a board member of the Palm Springs Walk of Stars and was honored with his own Golden Palm Star in tribute to his two show business careers in 2006. He's been inducted into his New Jersey high school's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

Discography

As leader/co-leader Whitey Mitchell Sextette (ABC Paramount, 1956) Get Those Elephants Out'a Here (MetroJazz, 1958) with Red Mitchell, Blue Mitchell and André Previn Just in Time (2004)

As sideman With Buck Clayton and Tommy Gwaltney's Kansas City 9 Goin' to Kansas City (Riverside, 1960) With Herbie Mann Herbie Mann Plays (Bethlehem, 1956) Love and the Weather (Bethlehem, 1956) With Oscar Pettiford The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi (ABC-Paramount, 1956) With Betty Roché Take the "A" Train (Bethlehem, 1956) With Pete Rugolo Rugolomania (Columbia, 1955) New Sounds by Pete Rugolo (Harmony, 1954–55, )