Mitch Mitchell Has Died

Mitch Mitchell, drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, has died.

Here’s Mitchell on drums, along with John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards, doing one of Lennon’s White Album tunes. I love Ringo Starr’s drumwork on the original recording and in a way, Mitchell and Starr represent diametrically opposed approaches to drumming. Starr has always claimed to hate drum solos, insisting that his job as the rhythm section is to provide a backbeat. Mitchell, on the other hand, created a sound that put him front and center with Hendrix on guitar. His drumming is more apparent that Starr’s was on the White Album version of ‘Yer Blues,’ but no one could accuse him of getting in the way either.

[This has been cross-posted on my personal blog.]