Mitchell Coleman Jr. had minimal choice in selecting something to be passionate about, but thankfully, the choice he made has become his life now, and he definitely wouldn’t have it any other way.
Born in Meridian, Mississippi, in 1967, Mitchell Coleman Jr. grew up in Cuba, Alabama, with his family. When his father returned from Vietnam, they moved to Hartford and then Bloomfield, Connecticut. So the story began for Mitchell right there, and today, he’s a well-established and recognized bassist.
Mitchell Coleman Jr. started playing the electric bass because it was what everyone in Bloomfield did. “There was no basketball or anything like that. Bass was all they knew, and since the electric bass caught my attention, I decided to stick to it. Thankfully, my friend, Greg Carrington, was the best player in town; so he taught me everything from scratch with the help of Kevin Weaverbey,” Mitchell shared. From learning “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers with Marcus Miller on bass to getting blisters and calluses on his fingers, Mitchell Coleman Jr. knew there was no going back for him.
Thanks to the full support he got from his family, especially his mother Ruth Coleman, Mitchell Coleman Jr.’s journey as a bassist was a lot easier as she got him his first bass (a short-neck Sears special for kids). Detuning his first bass to get the sounds he wanted set the tone for the type of sounds he puts in his music today. His aunt Orcie Delaine bought him his first real bass with her credit card, and when the family fell apart due to his parents’ divorce, the bass was all he had going for him, and he delved fully into the music.
He consumed a great deal of Marcus Miller’s music, and along the line, he discovered what became the Funk-Jazz blend of music in David Sanborn’s LP Straight from the Heart, and his sound began to develop from there. Mitchell’s style of music is based on smooth jazz and his own jazz style that he has developed. Mitchell Coleman Jr. released his debut CD in 2015 titled Soul Searching, and he marked his presence in the funk music genre with that project. He recently released a single, “Glide,” which is a feel-good cover of the 1979 funk classic originated by the band Pleasure.
Describing the inspiration for “Glide” on his website, he said: “The song just called out to me one morning. ‘Glide’ is one of those bucket list songs for bass players. Once you can play it, you know you’re officially in the game. It took me a good minute to get this one under my thumb…`cuz Nate slid some serious stuff up in there! I would love to talk to him about that one day…I didn’t want to mess with it too much. Just add a lil’ of that Sylk Sonic skating Flava. And lyrically, ‘Glide’ fits this time to a ‘T.’ There’s just so many things we are all trying to get over and ‘glide’ on by.” The song had producers Michael Sutton and Hiroshi Upshur on the arrangement to make it more universally appealing. It’s the lead single on Mitchelle Coleman Jr.’s forthcoming third album, which is dedicated to the memory of his mother, who passed away two years ago.A few years later, Mitchell Coleman Jr. sees himself performing with the best bass players on stage, making landmark strides in the music industry, especially with the Funk-Jazz sound.
