by Sherman Wilmott
Special to the Tri-State Defender

On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, family, friends, and fans feted Willie Mitchell’s fantastic life at Hope Presbyterian Church in East Memphis, the same spot where Stax Records’ founder Estelle Axton received a memorial almost six years previous.  

Willie Mitchell

Approximately 300 people came from near and far to memorialize and remember the understated, yet highly influential, impact Mitchell’s life made on others.  

Ardent Studios’ John Fry began the afternoon talking about the influence Mitchell had on a twenty-five year old Australian musician who won the Australian American Idol contest and came to Memphis specifically to record Hi & Stax songs. Fry also borrowed recently deceased musician Jim Dickinson’s self-penned obituary and invoked it in reference to Willie Mitchell: “I may be dead, but I’m not gone.”  These two messages set the tone for the whole afternoon’s tribute.

Next, former Stax Records’ owner Al Bell emotionally revealed that Willie Mitchell had been there for him during his darkest days, thirty-five years previous, and that action exemplified the kind, quiet spirit that Mitchell had.  Harold Ford Sr. also backed up that sentiment with stories about Mitchell’s behind the scenes generosity. DJ Henry Nelson talked about the influence Mitchell’s music had on his cousins and him growing up in the South Lauderdale neighborhood.  

Willie Mitchell is honored with a brass note embedded in the sidewalk on Beale Street. (Photo by Brian Ramoly)

Then the video tributes began coming in – from Germany with pop superstar John Mayer and Booker T. & the MGs drummer Steve Potts. From Scotland came Marti Pellow, another artist Mitchell had worked with in the 1980s.  

Stax songwriter David Porter talked about his first recordings with Mitchell as “Kenny Cain” – before his Stax days – and jamming with Mitchell’s band and Isaac Hayes at a party for Elvis at the Manhattan Club, a highlight of Porter’s life. A message sent in by bluesman Robert Cray, who also recorded with Mitchell, was read.  

Declarations came from the floor of Congress, and proclamations came from the state senate.  Even the multi-pronged political attack (five separate politicians came to speak or send emissaries) could not take away from the uplifting celebration of Mitchell’s life for all attending.

The massive stage with oversized video screens then opened up for a beautiful musical tribute to Willie Mitchell’s impressive body of work. His early songwriting partner, Don Bryant, who wanted everyone to know he was there with Willie Mitchell from the beginning, got things going. The Hi Rhythm section, including a rare appearance from the excellent background singers Chalmers, Rhodes, & Chalmers – who worked on hundreds of hits with Mitchell in the 1970s – took the stage along with Susan Marshall on vocals backing up Kevin Paige on a surprisingly rousing version of an Al Green song.

Soul Children star J. Blackfoot stole the show with an extemporized speech and song that would have done Mitchell proud.  Otis Clay’s hit “Trying to Live my Life Without You” took on a whole new meaning with Mitchell departed. And then, at the end, the King of Soul, Solomon Burke, rolled out onto the stage, doing his loving, emotional song tribute, and then his retinue wheeled him off the stage as he was still singing “Nothing is Impossible,” a finely executed end to an memorable tribute to one of Memphis’ greatest musicians ever.  

If nothing else, the tribute reminded all who attended of the universal appeal and influence that Willie Mitchell’s music and life has had on the world.

(Sherman Wilmott is former curator of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music)