Little Jake Mitchell couldn’t help himself, he was always going to be a singer.
Born in Tampa, he was discovered when a man heard him singing in the background of a telephone call and had to know “that singer.”
Henry Urso, a Tampa businessman, immediately got him down to Wilderman’s Boy’s Shop in downtown where he was fitted for a fire engine red suit. By age 12, he was a headliner with the best Tampa bands and earning a reputation as the child prodigy of the “chitlin’ circuit. ” He went on the appear at the famed Apollo Theater, record with Chess Records, and tour as “Mr. Excitement” with R&B immortals James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Tyrone Davis, Sam Cooke, and Bobby Blue Bland. BB King called Jake “my godson.”
“Singing is a blessing and I guess when it is something you love, you never lose it,” Jake told me.
That’s why he’s still singing classic soul and R&B with his band, the Soul Searchers more than 60s years later. Jake and the full horn band sold out the Side Door last fall and they are coming back on Aug. 4 as part of our Summer of Soul series. For tickets and info you can call the box office at 727-822-3590 or follow this link to our website for online tickets and info.
For Jake, the way you make music is with a large, tight band and that’s what he’s got with the Soul Searchers. It’s a hard driving rhythm section, paired with the Silver-Sonic horns. The band’s roots run deep featuring sidemen who worked with Ike and Tina Turner, Billy Joe Royal, Ernie K Doe, Hues Corporation, and other R&B and rock pioneers.
“I like them horns. I like a tight rhythm section,” he told me during a phone call from his adopted hometown of Gainesville. ” I like a band that can motivate me, that’s what I get out of this band here.”
If you were here for his last show you know Jake still gives his audience everything he’s got and then some.
“I believe when a person comes out be entertained, give it all to them. Don’t hold back anything.”
I’ll be there for this show and if you love classic soul music delivered by one of the few remaining “masters” of the genre, join me in the Palladium’s intimate Side Door Cabaret on Aug. 4 at 8.
John Capouya, the author who interviewed Jake for his book, Florida Soul, will be at the show selling and signing copies of his book.
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