**Thu 13 Nov 08**
MITCH MITCHELL

Mitch Mitchell (left)
Photograph: Joel Elkins/Rex Features

In 1970, when I was looking for a drummer to form a new band, I put a notice up on the Imperial College Union noticeboard, saying (approximately) "Brilliant Drummer wanted for Heavy Guitar Band - must be able to play like Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Keith Moon". A young medical student answered the ad, by the name of Roger Meddows Taylor. He said ... "Yes, I can do that - Mitch Mitchell is my greatest influence - we (Bri and Rog) obviously speak the same language".

Roger and I (and Freddie) went to many shows to see the Jimi Hendrix Experience ... the first one I saw was at Brian Epstein's Saville Theatre in 1967. Jimi was of course mind-blowingly brilliant, but the combination of Jimi's creativity and Mitch Mitchell's unique talent for Jazz rhythms spun a magic web. You really could not figure out how they had so much rapport - going through gradual builds in intensity and pace, but also sudden U-turns and changes in rhythm which made it seem like Jimi and the brilliant Mitch were connected by an invisible thread. Mitch was a long way outside the mainstream of what became a whole lineage of Hard Hitting Heavy Rock Drummers - he was fast, intricate and furiously inventive ... matching and refuelling Jimi's unique passion and improvisational skills. We all thought there could be no other drummer who could have kept up.

My favourite bit? The piece near the end of track "Axis Bold As Love" (at the end of the album of the same name); just when you think it's all over, Mitch starts into a stunning slow-motion tape-phased reprise), and all the way through the introductory fill, he's already accelerating into the entry of the guitar and bass ... so the reprise proper sounds like it has been launched by a rocket.

We loved ya, Mitch. Wish I'd had a bit more chance to let you know.

Brilliant. Wonderful. Magic.

RIP

Bri

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