Mitch Mitchell

The last surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, drummer Mitch Mitchell, who died on Nov. 12 at 61, carried on as keeper of Hendrix’s legacy long after the guitarist’s death in 1970. Indeed, he had just completed a 19-city U.S. tour–Experience Hendrix–with blues star Buddy Guy and Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford when he was found dead in a hotel room in Oregon.

Born in Ealing in west London and self-taught on the drums, Mitchell was 18 when he met Hendrix and bass player Noel Redding (who died in 2003). In 1967, the three put out their first album, Are You Experienced? Driven by Jimi’s incendiary guitar-playing and a heady mix of blues and psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll, the band soon skyrocketed to fame. But turmoil brought on by unending touring and drug binges unraveled the trio after just three years.

Not a stick-breaking powerhouse like contemporaries Keith Moon and John Bonham, Mitchell nevertheless helped revolutionize rock drumming with his finesse. As journalist and musician Felix Contreras noted, Mitchell held his sticks like a jazz player, lightly between his thumb and two fingers, sometimes losing them during performances, to little negative effect. Still, he could propel a song: on tracks like “Fire” and “Manic Depression” he proved a perfect match for Hendrix’s guitar. Even after the band split, the two performed together at Woodstock in 1969.

Mitchell was leery of being labeled a rock star. While he didn’t resent it, he wanted audiences to focus on the group. Still, he accepted his place in music history. Being a part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, as he said in 1968, had “given me freedom.”