Mitch Mitchell dies / Iirana Rantala New Trio

Mitch Mitchell, drummer and sole survivor of the Jimi Hendrix Experience was found dead in his hotel room at 61.

You have to be pretty special to share the recording studio with Hendrix and not sound like a five year-old with a toy drum kit.

If you never really noticed him, go back to your favourite Hendrix tracks and listen all over again. He absolutely kills on Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), batters away on the mesmerising 3/4 grind of Manic Depression, brings alive the funkiness of Crosstown Traffic, and mystically dream-drums what’s technically known as “all that weird, backwards-loopy, jazzy shit” on Electric Ladyland.

It’s rare to hear intelligence and wit in a rhythym section but the Jimi Hendrix Experience was dripping with it, and sorry, but none of it was coming from Noel Redding. I guess now Mitchell, Hendrix and Miles Davis can finally hook up like they were destined to.

Incidentally, Mitchell was a particularly tragic sufferer of that mysterious ailment that afflicts all rock stars in the end, the one that impels them to nosedive from iconic ultra-cool into “dad on holiday”. How do you go from this:

…to this?

He gets bonus points for wearing a novelty waistcoat with music notation on it because – don’t you see – he’s a musician.

While we’re on the subject of drummers, this is a must see. You’ve heard Karen Carpenter, Don Henley, The Band’s majestic Levon Helm and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down; but now there’s a whole new take on drums and vocals. It sounds like a comedy jazz name from The Fast Show, but this is the Iiro Rantala New Trio bringing you the truly awesome Shit Catapult.

The beatbox dude’s name is Felix Zenger.

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• Jimi Hendrix Drummer Mitch Mitchell Dies
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• Jimi Hendrix’s Sister Releasing ’Amazing Amount’ of Unheard Material