Mitchell, Billy: This Is Billy Mitchell - Verve Vault

Tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell had already turned heads as a key member of Dizzy Gillespie's big band and Count Basie's orchestra in the mid-'50s before stepping out for the first time as a bandleader on 1962's This is Billy Mitchell. Here, he leads a sextet reflective of both his Detroit roots (with fellow natives Herman Wright and Otis Finch on bass and drums) and his attractive hard bop credentials (Billy Wallace and Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson on piano and organ, trumpeter Dave Burns and rising vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson).

Together, they deliver a program that combines modern jazz sophistication with soulful drive, from burning opener “J&B” to the lush balladry of “Sophisticated Lady.” This is Billy Mitchell remains his signature album as a leader, embodying the consistency, warmth and unerring swing that made him a key figure in the Detroit-to-New York pipeline of postwar jazz.

The Verve Vault series is all-analogue, cut from the original master tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram viny.