Red Mitchell

Keith Moore Mitchell (September 20, 1927, New York City - November 8, 1992, Salem, Oregon), better known as Red Mitchell, was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet.

Red was raised in New Jersey by a father who was an engineer and loved music, and a mother who loved poetry. His first instruments were piano, alto saxophone, and clarinet. Although Cornell University awarded an engineering scholarship to Mitchell, by 1947 he was in the US Army playing bass. The next year he was in a jazz trio in New York City.