Bob Mitchell

Sam Trippe and His Jazz Orchestra: Explosion!

by Jack Bowers
June 1, 2001

This reissue on Americatone by Sam Trippe's orchestra was recorded more than forty years ago, shortly before Trippe and his wife, Dorothy, were killed in an auto accident, which accounts for its LP—like 30:40 playing time. Trippe's ensemble was modeled closely on that of Woody Herman—not a bad model at all—and Trippe was convinced he had one of the world's greatest big bands. While that's hard to affirm—as Art Blakey once said, it's impossible to measure talent—he had a very ...

Bob Mitchell Silent-Movie Organist Was House Musician for Dodgers

Source: Michael Ricci
July 9, 2009

Bob Mitchell improvised soundtracks for silent movies, starting when he was 12 years old at Strand Theater in Pasadena. The longtime director of the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir played at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles.

Bob Mitchell, an organist who was the first such house musician at Dodger Stadium and the last surviving working accompanist from the silent-film era, has died. He was 96.

Mitchell died Saturday from congestive heart failure at Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center in Los ...
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