American Blues News - "Dedicated to the promotion and celebration of the Blues."

(Memphis, Tennessee) If I were a better writer perhaps I could express the sense of profound community loss that I feel with the passing of Willie Mitchell. Today, me and my fellow working Memphis musicians held a funeral procession for Pops on historic Beale Street (January 12, 2010). They all braved the freezing temperatures to play a few last songs for our fallen friend and make an attempt to express our gratitude and heartfelt respect for this monolith of Memphis Music. If you have ever felt a shred of hometown pride then you will understand how ebullient and overwhelmed Memphians were with the success of Hi records and the many accomplishments of Willie Mitchell. We are commensurately saddened and grieved by his passing which marks the end of an era (photo above by Charley Burch).

In the midst of a city so full of deprivation and squalor, where a huge percentage of the city lives under the poverty level, to see someone from our ranks, someone unknown, like an Al Green or Teeny Hodges or Willie Mitchell, rise to prominence, is more vicariously gratifying than I am capable of expressing with mere words. The soul-stirring emotional jolt that you hear when you first experience"I'm so Tired of Being Alone" by Al Green, his first hit, is the stuff of which dreams are made. This did not occur by accident. It was the genius foresight and planning of the late Willie Mitchell.

For more details and his discovery of Al Green, please click this link to an article I wrote earlier:

http://www.ameriblues.com/2010/01/willie-mitchell-dead-at-81.html


Willie Mitchell's tenure as a bandleader and trumpet player in the clubs of West Memphis prepared his ear for the musical farsightedness that would produce so many Hi and Goldwax records. His jazz training and experience from gigging gave him this rare talent to hear the future, juxtaposing what he knew he could provide in his studio posed against the vocal strides of the likes of Al Green and Sly Johnson, Ann Peebles and so many more. His imagination knew no bounds.

Here's a link to another article about where Memphis Music originates, touching on Willie Mitchell's band and the contributions of the club scene in West Memphis:

http://www.ameriblues.com/2009/12/memphiswhere-music-came-from-posted-on.html

Joe writes, "This picture is from May 2009. Pops was a kind, smart, and funny man who absolutely loved music, and I'm so glad to have been able to spend some time with him. I'll always remember the times walking in Royal to mix and he would say, "Boo's back there..." then I'd come back up later and he'd be at his desk playing along to my band's songs on his keyboard! He always took time to talk and make me feel comfortable."

Joe is flying in from Colorado to play in Don Bryant's band at the Willie Mitchell memorial service being held for the public at Hope Presbyterian Church. Musical tributes will be performed by Solomon Burke, Willie Clayton, Otis Clay, Kevin Page, Preston Shannon and J. Blackfoot. Look for more on this event on my article to appear here on this Monday, January, 18, 2010.

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©2010, Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms

RCT

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