Cashbox : 12/17/1960

Blue Mitchell, mainstay of the Horace Silver group, has proved his strong, youthful leadership ability on a previous Riverside album, Blue Soul. Here he is featured with Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones and Roy Brooks. Mitchell, as his name implies, is wholeheartedly bluesy. He also is an extremely sensitive and lyrical trumpeter. Witness his performances of Kinda Vague, When I Fall in Love and Sir John. There are also some high flying swinging moments. First rate jazz date.

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Pittsburgh Courier : 12/24/1960
Harold L. Keith : 3.5 stars

Blue Mitchell is a rather consistent musician who never turns out a bad piece of wax, but, likewise, needs to be truly inspired to rise above his capable rut. Wynton Kelly and Sam Jones plus Roy Brooks are at work with Blue on a bevy of cool things for a Riverside album entitled Blue’s Moods. Good listening, but not particularly inspiring is this one.

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Philadelphia Daily News
Harold Angel : 03/07/1961

Blue’s Moods is a milestone in the career of Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell, the trumpet specialist of the Horace Silver Quintet.

Mitchell here goes it alone, with only a rhythm section for company, and proves conclusively that he has arrived at that stage of self-assurance where apologies can go unvoiced.

A skillfully concocted platter of ballads and up-tempo hors d’oeuvres by Blue, abetted admirably by Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones and Roy Brooks.

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San Bernardino County Sun
Jim Angelo : 02/04/1961

This recording pretty well epitomizes the impact Blue Mitchell has made upon the modern jazz scene. Since cutting his first LP (in the summer of 1958) the trumpeter has been often heard from on records and as a member of the Horace Silver Quintet (which he joined late in 1958). Blue’s latest effort shows a wide range of emotions and tempos. Here is a driving rendition of Charlie Parker‘s classic Scrapple from the Apple, a joyful version of I Wish I Knew, an effective balladic treatment of When I Fall in Love, a lightly swinging standard, I’ll Close My Eyes, and a medium-tempo blues, Sir John. Recommended for all modern jazz afficionados.

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 04/30/1961

Aided by Wynton Kelly, who continually contributes good piano solos on every LP he gets on, Mitchell blows good, pleasant and not inspired trumpet which leans heavily (as who doesn’t these days) on Miles.

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San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 01/08/1961

Blue Mitchell is a youthful, competent, earnest trumpeter who has been highly praised, frequently recorded and, in a sense, given the red carpet treatment by critics, reviewers and a&r men generally. This is perhaps his best record to date: the presence of Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones and Roy Brooks provides him with a rhythm section that could scarcely fail to swing.

Yet Mitchell, accomplished though he is, remains essentially a “legit” trumpeter: his tone is clear, vivid, often lyrical – but never “hot.” He does not wail. He is at his best in such tracks as I’ll Close My Eyes, when the rhythm section forces the beat a little (sometimes with a definite accelerando). The limits of his capacity are shown all too well in Charlie Parker‘s Scrapple which he plays to the limits of his reserve without approaching the Yardbird “feel.”

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Springfield Republican
Gerald M. Healy : 01/08/1961

Among improvised jazz circles, there is a group known as the Soul Society which has among its membership Nat Adderley, Blue Mitchell, Bobby Timmons, Jimmy Heath and Louis Hayes as well as Julian “Cannonball” Adderley as potentate. One of the features of this mythical society is that they can take a standard tune, or a new jazz piece, and give it new meaning; a rather soulful meaning.

Case in point – Blue’s Moods which has Mitchell on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on the 88, Sam Jones on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums. This quartet, led by Mitchell, takes eight different tunes, including originals, standards and jazz bits and gives each of them a soul-jazz approach.

Take When I Fall in Love for example. The way Mitchell interprets it the tune seems to develop a new meaning, a meaning which appears to have a sense of beauty. Then, for another, Charlie Parker‘s Scrapple From the Apple, is an out-and-out jazz romp. For others, there’s a funky approach to I’ll Close My Eyes, or blues in Sir John, a joyful approach to I Wish I Knew, and a lively rendition of Avars, and finally a slow blues treatment of Kinda Vague.

We think you might enjoy Blue’s Moods.

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Down Beat : 02/16/1961
Frank Kofsky : 4 stars

Reviewing Mitchell‘s last LP, Ralph Gleason wrote, “Blue Mitchell is becoming more and more of an individual voice…” I’m rather inclined to agree.

For one thing, Mitchell is a thoughtful musician, more so than might be apparent from his work with the Horace Silver Quintet, in which he has a predominantly shouting role. His playing, moreover, reflects the attainment of a measure of self-assurance and restraint, hallmarks both of the mature artist.

These qualities show up in little, but significant, touches. For instance, Mitchell is able to play a ballad such as When I Fall in Love without having to resort to double-time as a crutch. This is the more difficult way, but it’s just that much more effective when properly done.

With the exception of Kinda Vague, which has a nervous figure in the bass that lends the entire track an unsettled air, Mitchell has the advantage of receiving first-rate rhythmic support. In particular, Kelly, that unfailing paragon of good swing, melodic line, and good taste, is superb; he seems well on his way to becoming the Hank Jones of the ’60s.

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Liner Notes by Orrin Keepnews

The impact of Blue Mitchell upon the modern jazz scene has bene strong and – as such things are measured – extremely swift. For, although he has been playing since the late 1940s, it is more precise to date his career from the time of his first album, recorded for Riverside in the Summer of 1958, which marked his first full-scale exposure to the jazz public.

Since then, Blue has been heard frequently: on records and as a valued member of the Horace Silver Quintet, which he joined late in ’58. For a great many fans, critics and musicians, listening to Mitchell has by now become a solidly appreciated pleasure. And “pleasure” is exactly the right word, for the round, firm tone – lyrical but filled with strength – of this Miami-born trumpeter consistently evokes a warm glow and a feeling of satisfaction.

Until rather recently, however, it appeared that Blue himself was one of the very, very few people not particularly pleased or satisfied by his playing. Basically, he belongs to that fairly large group of sensitive and strongly self-critical musicians who are constantly concerned with their real or fancied failure to fully live up to the tough standards they impose on themselves. But the album immediately preceding this one (Blue Soul) marked a turning point – the arrival of Blue at a striking new level of maturity, authority and deserved confidence. The present LP actually represents the next step forward from that point, as Mitchell for the first time takes off on his own, with only rhythm-section support and no other horns to lean on.

Such an album calls for considerable assurance. There had been three quartet numbers among the nine of the Blue Soul LP, but a full album with the spotlight squarely on you is something else again. Actually, it was the warm and moving treatment of the title tune of that previous album that led to this present effort; the intention here is primarily to build the same sort of richly mellow atmosphere, and it is my firm opinion that he succeeds brilliantly.

But the title here is in the plural (moods, not mood), and so there is a fittingly wide range of feelings and tempos. Blue can drive with the best, as he demonstrates on a rousing romp through Charlie Parker‘s classic Scrapple from the Apple and a joyful version of I Wish I Knew. And he can create a very special virile beauty with a ballad, as on When I Fall in Love.

But perhaps his most effective groove, and one in which he has few if any equals, is the lightly swinging and firmly funky area he gets into both on a standard like I’ll Close My Eyes and a medium-tempo blues like his own Sir John. It is currently in fashion to call almost all modern jazz, whether accurately or not, “soulful”; but there can be not doubt that Mitchell has at least as much soul, and blues feeling, as the law allows. This is strikingly apparent on these two numbers, and equally so on the more lively Avars and again on the haunting and most unusual slow blues he calls Kinda Vague. On this last tune Blue is playing a vintage cornet belonging to Riverside engineer Ray Fowler. This horn has long fascinated Blue, and this introspective tune, in which members of the rhythm section seem to drift in and out (“kind of vaguely”), was built around the mood suggested by the far-off, slightly wry sound of the cornet.

On any jazz record, but probably most of all on a quartet date like this, a skilled and sympathetic rhythm section is of vital importance. And it would be hard to improve on the support offered by these three. Wynton Kelly, a mainstay of the Miles Davis group, has by specific invitation been the pianist on all of Blue’s albums; Sam Jones, one of the very finest of bassists, is a charter member of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and has been a close friend of Mitchell’s since both were teenagers in Florida; Roy Brooks, a vastly promising young drummer from Detroit, has worked with Blue for over a year in the Silver band.