Steve Mitchell

In the ensemble, Steve Mitchell, drummer, is the guy who keeps it going. His drumming will captivate and inspire. He's got a groove you cannot ignore. He's the most musical drummer you will ever hear and, yet, his work is quiet and subtle, with masterful and restrained use of both brush and stick.

Steve has been drumming professionally since he was 11, and that's a long time! In his earliest days he was mentored by Pat Ballard who wrote Mr Sandman. Most of his professional career was spent in San Francisco where he was a studio musician in addition to touring and playing regular gigs around the Bay Area. He has been a teacher his whole life, with formal associations at the UCSF and the Wilmington Friends School He was a founder of the Children's Media and the Academy of Rhythm. Together with his wife, the Reverend Ann Keeler Evans, they have started a foundation entitled, Peaceful Measures, which explores ways to create peace, within your hearts and among peoples and communities using rhythm and rhyme. He's happiest playing — whether new music with the young kids or old licks with the old timers. If you love to play, he's probably played with you in the Susquehanna Valley and around the world.

Played With (sampling):

Skyliners, Too Loose To Truck, Mose Allison, Van Morison, The Smothers Brothers, The Joffrey Ballet, Joy of Cooking, Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Herb Ellis, Vice Guaraldi, Cal Tjader, Leon Russell, Albert King, Ester Phillips, Lou Rawls, Norton Buffalo, David Grisman, Sally Kellerman, Freda Payne, Les Elgart, Earl Van Dyke

Festivals

Billtown Blues Festival
Cool Jazz Festival in SF
Philly Folk Festival
Russian River Jazz Festival

Soundtrack Recordings (sampling)

Charlie Brown TV specials
Garfield the Cat
Sesame Street
Nova
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Eddie Macon's Run
End of the Rainbow
True Stories
Walker
Tucker
All is Normal
Neck Deep

Recordings

Steve's drumming appears on well over 1,000 records, tapes and CDs

Awards

Grammy 1976: Best Studio Musician

Reviews:

"Steve Mitchell is an American Master Drummer."
— Peter Tork of the Monkees

"Steve Mitchell surely should be called a virtuoso of percussion."
— John Wasserman SF Examiner

"One of the finest young drummers playing in San Francisco today."
— Phil Elwood San Francisco Chronicle (1974)

"Influenced by every great drummer you can think of, Mitchell put it all together his way. He is masterful, an intuitive musician who plays with a holistic approach. Never more, never less, and never overpowering the balance of the group. A sensitive man with a light touch, he draws sound out of the snare with a set of brushes that barely skims the surface. You can sense that touch when the band plays the theme for Charlie Brown/Peanuts. His stick control is laidback precision… Fills never dominate, he doesn't override the cymbals of the bass pedal, and his high hat is a restrained accent which you can appreciate in Brubeck's "Take Five" or on any old standard."
— Annie Clark, The One