Break City

Junior Cook (tenor sax), Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Horace Silver (piano), Gene Taylor (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums). From the album Blowin’ the Blues Away (1959).

Blue Mitchell was an American trumpeter who played jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, funk and rock, and he was also songwriter. Although his playing was a good fit with the hard bop style, today it’s often overlooked because he never excelled over other musicians despite his talent. He first played with rhythm and blues bands until he recorded an album with Cannonball Adderley in 1958. That same year he joined the Horace Silver Quintet until its dissolution in 1964, improving his playing.

While with Silver he recorded several albums and then formed a group with Chick Corea and Al Foster which he continued until 1969. Knowing that the opportunities to play jazz were decreasing, he played with Ray Charles until 1971 and then with John Mayall until 1973. From then he played in several big bands and in funk groups, although he also continued to play hard bop in a quintet with Harold Land. He died of cancer at 49 years of age.

The theme starts right away at medium-fast tempo. The first one to perform his solo is Cook, who expresses his ideas through his saxophone at a dizzying speed. Then comes Mitchell, whose phrases are solid and forceful, and he doses them carefully. Then Silver makes a solo with clean melodies and dark chords, building unheard passages. Mitchell comes back to exchange four-bar solos with Cook giving way to Hayes to perform his solo and to re-expose the theme.