Larry Mitchell is a born-and-bred New Yorker. He’s brash, he’s bold, and he acts swiftly – attributes that probably didn’t hurt as he emerged from Queens to become a go-to session player.
And while you might not recognize his name, you’ve probably heard his playing – especially if you’ve dug on Ric Ocasek, Tracy Chapman, and Billy Squier records.
If strumming a broom to Elvis Presley songs didn’t ignite Mitchell’s musical fire when he was a kid, maybe you can chalk it up to his childhood friendships with – get this – fellow New Yorkers Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Jon Levin (Dokken), and Jeff Thall (Bryan Ferry), a gaggle of guitarists who fueled each other’s musical dreams.
Soon enough, a young Mitchell was picking up what he calls “ghost work” as a session player in Manhattan, before a chance meeting with Nile Rodgers led him to hook up with Ocasek for his 1991 album, Fireball Zone.
“I ran into Nile one night at the China Club,” Mitchell says. “He said, ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ I said, ‘Whatever you want me to do.’” That put Mitchell on the map.
“Ric and Tracy Chapman had the same management. My name came up when Tracy was looking for a guitar player. Vernon Reid had played guitar on Tracy’s 1992 single, Bang Bang Bang, so they had a bit of a rock player in mind.”
Fast forward to 2008. Mitchell was now a Grammy-winning producer – for Johnny Whitehorse’s 2007 album, Totemic Flute Chants – and an Ibanez endorsee. The timing was perfect to befriend another big-time Ibanez guy, Steve Vai.
“Steve and I spoke about warming up before a show, and then [we got] on to life things,” Mitchell says of meeting Vai at Ibanez’s 100th-anniversary celebration in Nagoya, Japan, in May 2008.
“We stayed in touch, and when Steve was touring through Alabama, I texted him and said I was coming. He invited me to sit in. When we jam, he just looks at me and says, ‘Start something groovy’ – and we get funky.”
Mitchell went on to open for Vai in 2023 and 2024. “Playing with Steve has taught me to embrace the freedom and the spiritual side of guitar playing,” he says. “Embrace the flow from one note to the next, and, of course, have fun on stage and in the music.”
Mitchell is planning his next move with nothing but gratitude. “I produce a lot of music, and I’m touring around the world,” he says. “Regrets are a hard thing. Everything in the past has led to this moment, so changing anything would lead to a different outcome. But maybe I wish I had bought a vintage ’burst back in the late Eighties.” [Laughs]
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
