Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Mitchell.
Hi Billy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in Tarrytown and attended High School in Buffalo, New York, I was raised in the church, so I was exposed to great music early on. I tinkered with the piano as a child, playing music by ear, but did not get serious about music until I went to Morehouse College. I had the opportunity to join an off-campus jazz band (Jazz was not allowed in the music room on campus) and was soon playing gigs throughout the South. In 1970, I decided to move to LA and give it a shot. I was fortunate in meeting a lot of great people and soon, I was performing in some of the many venues that LA boasted at that time. I was soon performing with such artists as Ester Phillips, Billy Paul, Randy Crawford, and Linda Hopkins. However, supporting a family required a little more than I was earning, so I worked several jobs along with actively pursuing a music career.
As the years passed, I found it hard to believe that schools were eliminating the arts, the basic components necessary in a child’s overall development. And so I set about developing simple, common-sense approaches for providing basic music instruction for youngsters in underserved communities. In 2002, I founded the Scholarship Audition Performance Preparatory Academy (SAPPA), which has been the focus of my efforts ever since. Soon, I was consulting for the Los Angeles Music Center-Spotlight Awards, Pasadena Unified Schools, California State Summer School for the Arts, and the Compton Unified School District
My sales experience helped me to promote projects and events effectively, not only for my music productions but also for the various youth programs that I was working with.
When I arrived in LA, I worked as a salesman for Gallo wine and a substitute teacher in several school districts, developing skills that would help me in my career as a musician.
After many years of touring and recording, I decided to focus on my afterschool programs and in 2023, closed out my performing career with the “Circle of Friends”, an LA-based jazz group that featured some of the most outstanding musicians on the scene and the “Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited,” headed by Jazz legend Kenny Burrell.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t know anyone who has tried to accomplish something, change things for the better, or even excel in anything that has had a smooth road. I’ve always been a rather competitive person, so that alone will lead to conflict, either within yourself or in your environment. Surviving as an artist may be one of the most difficult paths to follow. It doesn’t follow the rules, and if you are a logical person, you must yield to the notion that, in this business, two and two doesn’t necessarily make four! Just because you do everything correctly doesn’t mean that you’ll reach your goals. I had to learn to live a logical life in a very illogical world.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Because I am several years past retirement, I have limited my work to the afterschool music programs that I founded over 20 years ago, limited music production, and artist management. Although most people might know me as a pianist, I’ve always been active in music education and arts advocacy.
I’m most proud of the Watts-Willowbrook Music Academy that I established in 2010 as a cultural arts strategy that creates opportunities for children who have little access to high-quality music instruction. With the support of foundations, donations, dedicated teachers, and staff, we were able to weather the pandemic and are rebuilding. We are the only non-tuition music program serving South LA, Watts, and Compton.
I think what sets me apart from most people is that I don’t quit!
What matters most to you? Why?
The most important thing to me is that this country returns to its senses. We have problems that no country with these amounts of resources should have. We all know what the problems are, as well as the common-sense solutions, yet we’d rather debate them than fix them. But I’m really concerned for our children, who will suffer because they are not being prepared to compete in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.billy-mitchell.com, www.sappa.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billymitchellkeys
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billy-mitchell-4091bb42/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/billymitchellkeys
