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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMITCHELL/ RUFF DUOPianist Dwike Mitchell (b 14 February 1930, Jacksonville FL; d there 7 April 2013) and Willie Ruff (b 1 September 1931, Sheffield AL) on bass and French horn. Ruff was also a professor of music at Yale. They left the Lionel Hampton band '55 and toured the world celebrating the basics of American music in schools and colleges, on TV, at Rotary Club lunches, to the Russians (at Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory '59) and the Chinese ('81). Ruff called it 'the oldest continuous group in jazz without personnel changes'; they demonstrated improvisation using interaction with audiences (especially kids) in small towns all over the USA, inspiring pride: 'Nobody else in the world invented jazz but Americans. It's one of the riches you should be proud of. If you ever travel you'll find that people in other lands know this part of your culture because they enjoy it.' LPs incl. two on Epic, three on Roulette '55-60; Atlantic LPs '61 with Charlie Smith on drums, '65 with Helcio Milito; Brazilian songs '66 with added sidemen on Epic, a set of Billy Strayhorn songs '69 on Mainstream; aptly titled Virtuoso Elegance In Jazz '83 on Kepler. They recorded with Dizzy Gillespie '70 (album Enduring Magic on Blackhawk), at Dartmouth College '71 (on Mainstream). Book Willie and Dwike: An American Profile by William Zinnser was published c.'84. They were still spreading joy '97, i.e. on Long Island in July. |