Richard Mitchell, aka Blue Mitchell, was a jazz trumpet player and vocalist. Born in Miami, Florida Mitchell learned to play the trumpet at high school. In the early 1950s he played in R&B bands of Paul Williams, Earl Bostic and Chuck Willis.

He returned to jazz and in 1958 recorded 'Big 6' the first of his albums for Riverside Records. In the same year he also joined the Horace Silver Quintet, working with tenor Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Ray Brooks. The Quintet disbanded in 1964 and a spin-off group continued featuring Mitchell, Taylor and Cook with the addition of drummer Al Foster and pianist Chick Corea. They recorded a number of albums for the Blue Note label, including the highly-rated 'The Thing to Do' (1964) and 'Bring It Home to Me' (1966), before disbanding in 1969.

In the late 1960s and early '70s Mitchell reinvented himself as a session man, touring with Ray Charles and John Mayall. He also worked as a soloist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne and continued to play big band gigs with the likes of Louie Bellson, Bill Berry and Bill Holman, and in a quintet with Harold Land.

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