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Willie Mitchell and the Hi Records Sound

Without a doubt, Willie Mitchell was, and remains, one of the greatest soul music producers ever. A prominent bandleader, hit instrumental recording artist and prolific producer, Mitchell is credited with creating the now legendary “Hi Records Sound,” building a legacy of hit records, and discovering and directing the creative careers of Hi’s most notable artists. But his gigantic success at the dawn of the ‘70s with artists such as Al Green, Ann Peebles, and Syl Johnson shouldn’t obscure his terrific career as a trumpet player and all-around musician, nor his brilliant arrangements for countless other talented but lesser known recording artists. 

Born in Ashland, Mississippi on the first of March in 1928, Willie learned to play the trumpet when he was only eight years old, and his talent showed itself quickly. While still in high school, he played in several big bands, along with drummer Al Jackson Sr. and bass player Tuff Green, before graduating to play trumpet on some early B.B. King recordings. He then studied music for three years at Rust College under the tutelage of piano master Onzie Horn, learning the theories of Schillinger and others, while being influenced as a musician by fellow trumpet player Harry James. 

During his stint in the Army’s Special Forces during WWII, he managed to back up pop singer Vic Damone, and played as frequently as his military life would allow. Back in Memphis in 1954, he was hired at Danny’s Club, and formed his own instrumental combo, the Willie Mitchell Orchestra. In West Memphis, his outfit became the house band at the Manhattan Club and later at the Plantation Inn. The son of his friend Al Jackson Jr. played the drums and Lewis Steinberg was on bass. This was Memphis’ own birth of cool, as evidenced by the Willie Mitchell Orchestra playing his trademark mix of jazz and rhythm ’n blues instrumentals. Elvis Presley often asked Willie’s band to play for his own private parties, and Willie also helped out Sam Phillips with music transcriptions at Sun Records.

Starting out as a producer at Reuben Cherry’s Home Of The Blues record label, Willie produced Roy Brown and the magnificent Five Royales. Thanks to his piano player, Joe Hall, he got to meet with Joe Cuoghi, the head of a fledging Memphis label - Hi Records - started in 1958 and standing for “Hit Instrumental”.

Bill Black’s ‘Smokie Pt 1 & 2’ brought the label its first success. Hi’s fourth release was “The Crawl”, credited to Willie Mitchell & The Four Kings (The Four Kings being his brother James on saxophone, Joe Hall, Lewis Steinberg and Al Jackson Jr. - Steinberg and Jackson soon to become the MG’s rhythm section). Reggie Young, soon to be Chips Moman’s American Studio in-house guitar player, also played with Willie during those years. But it was only in 1962 with “Sunrise Serenade”, that Willie Mitchell became a star in his own right, touring all over the country, especially the South.  

In 1965, hanging around at Hi, he met many of the recording artists walking past on 1329 Lauderdale Avenue, only a few hundred yards from Stax’s famed McLemore Avenue studio, contacts which ultimately blossomed into arrangement and soon production jobs. Like Stax, Hi was an old converted theater from the Thirties with a sloppy floor and an incredible reverberation. None of which stopped Mitchell from deriving an amazingly pure sound on his recordings.

From 1966 onwards, Mitchell supervised OV Wright’s recordings for Houston’s Duke/Backbeat label. And with the success of “Eight Men, Four Women”, his first big hit as a producer, he had now made a name for himself in the music industry, as a producer as well as a musician. Soon Bobby Blue Bland and others start to come by Lauderdale Avenue, looking for Mitchell’s services.

Working with singer/songwriter Don Bryant on his live gigs, Willie Mitchell also took production duties on “Don’t Turn Your Back On Me”, Bryant’s first hit. And at a Gene “Bowlegs” Miller gig at Memphis’ Rosewood Club, Willie took note of a young singer from Saint Louis named Ann Peebles, singing beautiful versions of Jimmy Hughes and Little Johnny Taylor numbers. It was a significant encounter, as both of their careers would be closely intertwined from then on. 

In 1968, he also crossed paths with singer Albert Greene. As soon as he heard him sing, Willie told the young man it’d take only 18 months to make a star out of him. A few weeks later, Al Green turned up in Memphis with dreams of becoming a star. The team of Mitchell and Green became a hit-producing juggernaut, and their combined genius ultimately saved Southern Soul Music from oblivion during the Seventies. In 1970, Atlantic’s head honcho, Jerry Wexler, asked Willie to become an Atlantic Records staff producer. But Joe Cuoghi counter-offered Willie the position of vice-president, which Willie accepted. In July 1970, Cuoghi died of a heart attack at Memphis Airport parking lot, leaving control of Hi in Mitchell’s capable hands.

Like Sun in the ‘50s, and Stax in the ‘60s -- the Seventies became Hi Records’s decade to shine, with Willie Mitchell at the helm. Al Green’s success was phenomenal and around 1972, he becomes one of America’s hottest recording artists. Soul heaven was reached with nuggets such as “Tired of Being Alone”, “Call Me”, “I'm Still in Love With You”, “Can't Get Next to You”, “Let's Stay Together”, “You Ought To Be With Me”, “Look At What You Done for Me” & “Let's Get Married”. All of which climbed to the top rungs of the pop charts.

Mitchell today, in his  office at Royal Recording

In the meantime, Willie’s golden touch shone on Ann Peebles, Otis Clay, Syl Johnson, OV Wright and countless other lesser known artists. Thanks to Willie’s signature production techniques, plus the three Hodges brothers and the wonderful Hi Rhythm Section, each artist who worked with Willie turned out some of the best recording of their careers.

In 1976, the disco craze and a severed relationship with Al Green marked the end of the Hi records era. Hi was sold to Cream in 1978 and Willie Mitchell called it quits the following year, leaving the label but still owning Royal Recording Studio. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, he came back to his own solo stuff, recording some uninspired albums as well as doing production work for his former protégés, Ann Peebles and Otis Clay.

Still working today on Lauderdale Avenue, in an office full of tarnished gold records on dingy walls. Willie Mitchell remembers his golden age with fondness and bright eyes. He wishes he had worked with Gladys Knight at some point in his career, and recalls how magic it was to work with such great musicians and artists as Al Jackson, Syl Johnson, OV Wright and Ann Peebles. But in the end, he recognizes that the greatest of them all was Al Green with whom he has just finished recording a brand new album. The synergy between Al’s magnificent vocals and Willie’s crisp & sophisticated production and arrangements became the soundtrack to the endless summer of the early seventies, and is the lasting legacy of one of popular music’s greatest teams.

Copyright Florent Mazzoleni © 2003 ~ Based in Bordeaux, France, Florent Mazzoleni is a young freelance writer primarily interested in music coming from the American South, from New Orleans to Muscle Shoals, Alex Chilton to Charles Brimmer, Geater Davis to Townes Van Zandt. He is currently working on his sixth book, dealing indeed with Southern ghosts, while preparing a ten-volumes serie of Southern Soul compilations. His writings have been published in Vibrations, Les Inrockuptibles, Rock & Folk, Soulbag, MOJO and Teknikart among others. Recent stories include a meeting with Willie Mitchell, an interview with Jonathan Richman, a Cramps overview and a close look at the new wave of Argentine cinema. Michael Hurley, Nino Ferrer, Japanese hip hop, and the Stax opening will be next.

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