With the exception of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, during which he played a Rodgers Powertone snare drum, during his time with the JHE, Mitch played a Ludwig Supraphonic 400, a 5- by 14-inch metal snare drum. In 1970, Mitchell switched to a double-bass Gretsch Drums set, his last year with the Hendrix Experience. Later in the summer, Mitchell switched to a Ludwig drum set and stayed with Ludwig through the rest of the year, 1967, and continued with Ludwig in 19. When the Experience came to the US for the Monterey Pop Music Festival in June 1967 Mitchell was playing that same set. Mitchell debuted with the Hendrix Experience playing a Premier drum kit in England and Europe in 1967.

He recorded most of the material for the posthumously-released Hendrix studio albums The Cry of Love (1971) (also listed as a co-producer), Rainbow Bridge (1971), and War Heroes (1972). Mitchell was replaced briefly with Buddy Miles for the Band of Gypsys album (1970), but rejoined Hendrix (with Billy Cox on bass) for the AprilвЂ“September 1970 the Cry of Love Tour. He performed with Hendrix's expanded lineup at Woodstock (August 1969). Mitchell remained with Hendrix after the Experience broke up when Noel Redding quit in June 1969. He played on the three best-selling Experience studio albums, Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold As Love (1968), and Electric Ladyland (1968). Mitchell's fast, driving, jazz-influenced playing meshed well with Hendrix's open-ended, revolutionary approach to the electric guitar.

Mitchell auditioned for the Jimi Hendrix Experience on 6 October 1966 and was chosen over Aynsley Dunbar in a coin toss. When he started splashing around I'd say 'just play the hi-hat!''. And he loved crashing around on the cymbals like Ronnie, but in my band I liked the arrangements pretty tight. In a 2015 interview, Fame recalled: 'His main hero was jazz drummer Ronnie Stephenson and if you look at early film clips of Mitch, he had that Ronnie Stephenson look, the way he set his jaw. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames ДЇrom December 1965 until October 1966, Mitchell was the drummer of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, appearing on their 1966 album Sweet Things. In 1965, he also temporarily replaced Viv Prince as drummer in the Pretty Things. Д®arly in his career he gained considerable musical experience as a touring and session musician, working with Pete Nelson and the Travellers, Frankie Reid and the Casuals (1962), Johnny Harris and the Shades, the Pretty Things, Bill Knight & the Sceptres, the Riot Squad, and the Who as a session drummer while the band was in the process of replacing Doug Sandom with Keith Moon. One of his first bands was the Soul Messengers, formed at the Ealing Club with saxophonist Terry Marshall, son of Jim Marshall. Among drummers, his chief influences were Elvin Jones and Tony Williams. Mitchell became a musician through working at Jim Marshall's drum shop on Saturdays while still at school. As a teenager he starred in a children's television programme, Jennings at School. As a twelve year old, he had a leading role in the British film Bottoms Up (1960) with Jimmy Edwards. Mitchell was born in Ealing, Middlesex, to Phyliss C (nГ©e Preston) and Thomas J Mitchell on 9 July 1946 (although several modern sources have incorrectly claimed that he was born in 1947).

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