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The Mizell Brothers were a highly influential production team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry and Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell.

he early seventies Larry and Fonce Mizell moved to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 to start their own company, Sky High Productions. They went on to produce albums for Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards....
 that set the tone for jazz fusion
Jazz fusion

Fusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that merges jazz with elements of other styles of music, particularly funk, Rock and roll, R&B, electronic music, and world music, but also pop music, classical music, and folk music, or sometimes even Heavy metal music, reggae, ska, country music, hip hop...
 and the era, including: Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an United States jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.BiographyEarly life and education...
's Black Byrd
Black Byrd

Black Byrd is a 1972 album by Donald Byrd, which was enormously successful and became Blue Note Records' highest-ever selling album....
 (1972), Street Lady (1973), Stepping into Tomorrow
Stepping into Tomorrow

Stepping Into Tomorrow is a 1974 album by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd....
 (1974), and Caricatures (1976), Bobbi Humphrey
Bobbi Humphrey

Barbara Ann Humphrey is an United States jazz flautist and Singing who plays jazz Fusion, jazz-funk and soul-jazz styles. Bobbi Humphrey has performed for audiences around the world....
's Blacks and Blues (1973) and Satin Doll (1974), and Johnny "Hammond" Smith's Gambler's Life (1974).

The Mizell Brothers often used the same musicians on their albums, including Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason

Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James , The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's The Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz....
 on drums, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin on guitar, Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey

Chuck Rainey, is a bass guitar session musician known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and The Supremes....
 on bass and Jerry Peters on piano.






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The Mizell Brothers were a highly influential production team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry and Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell.

History

In the early seventies Larry and Fonce Mizell moved to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 to start their own company, Sky High Productions. They went on to produce albums for Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards....
 that set the tone for jazz fusion
Jazz fusion

Fusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that merges jazz with elements of other styles of music, particularly funk, Rock and roll, R&B, electronic music, and world music, but also pop music, classical music, and folk music, or sometimes even Heavy metal music, reggae, ska, country music, hip hop...
 and the era, including: Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an United States jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.BiographyEarly life and education...
's Black Byrd
Black Byrd

Black Byrd is a 1972 album by Donald Byrd, which was enormously successful and became Blue Note Records' highest-ever selling album....
 (1972), Street Lady (1973), Stepping into Tomorrow
Stepping into Tomorrow

Stepping Into Tomorrow is a 1974 album by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd....
 (1974), and Caricatures (1976), Bobbi Humphrey
Bobbi Humphrey

Barbara Ann Humphrey is an United States jazz flautist and Singing who plays jazz Fusion, jazz-funk and soul-jazz styles. Bobbi Humphrey has performed for audiences around the world....
's Blacks and Blues (1973) and Satin Doll (1974), and Johnny "Hammond" Smith's Gambler's Life (1974).

The Mizell Brothers often used the same musicians on their albums, including Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason

Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James , The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's The Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz....
 on drums, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin on guitar, Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey

Chuck Rainey, is a bass guitar session musician known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and The Supremes....
 on bass and Jerry Peters on piano. Freddy Perren and Chuck Davis were often involved as co-writers or co-producers. Later hits of Sky High Productions include L.T.D.
L.T.D.

L.T.D. was a Rhythm and blues/funk music band best known for their 1977 hit single, " Back in Love Again."...
's "Love Ballad
Love Ballad (L.T.D. song)

"Love Ballad" was a hit song for R&B/Funk band L.T.D.. Released from their album, Love to the World, it spent two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart in November, 1976, and peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart....
" and A Taste Of Honey
A Taste of Honey (band)

A Taste of Honey was the name of an American recording act formed in 1971 by associates Perry Kibble and Donald Ray Johnson. They later went on to score one of the biggest chart-topper of the disco era....
's roller-rink anthem, "Boogie Oogie Oogie
Boogie Oogie Oogie

"Boogie Oogie Oogie" is the name of a popular song by disco/R&B group A Taste of Honey . Released from their self-titled album in 1978, it became a huge crossover hit....
". Younger brother Rodney Mizell also co-wrote some of their songs.

In the 1980s, the Mizell brothers retired from the record industry, but returned in the 2000s. Larry Mizell wrote and performed vocals on the song "Play With The Changes" on the 4Hero album of the same name in 2007.

Independent work


Larry

As an electrical engineer, Larry Mizell performed testing and reliability work on the Lunar Module
Apollo Lunar Module

The Apollo Lunar Module was the Lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the United States Apollo program by Grumman to achieve the transit from cislunar orbit to the surface and back....
 for the NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
 Apollo program. He also was one of the first to do research on liquid crystals, which today are used for example in displays (LCD).

Alphonzo

Alphonzo Mizell was a member of The Corporation, the hitmaking production team that wrote and produced all The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5

The Jackson 5 was a two-time Grammy Award-nominated American popular music Jackson family Musical ensemble from Gary, Indiana. Founding group members Jackie Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Marlon Jackson and Michael Jackson formed the group after performing in an early incarnation called The Jackson Brothers, which originally co...
's essential early hits, including "I Want You Back
I Want You Back

"I Want You Back" is a 1969 number-one single recorded by The Jackson 5 for the Motown label. The song, backed with a cover of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles "Who's Lovin' You," was the only single from the first Jackson 5 album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5. It held the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for...
", "ABC", "The Love You Save
The Love You Save

"The Love You Save" is a 1970 number-one hit single recorded by The Jackson 5 for the Motown label. It held the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, from June 27 to July 4, 1970, replacing "The Long and Winding Road" by The Beatles, and replaced by "Mama Told Me Not to Come" by Three Dog Night....
", "Mama's Pearl", and "Maybe Tomorrow" was a project of the two brothers. When Motown moved to Los Angeles, Mizell and his brother Larry joined with trumpet player Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an United States jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.BiographyEarly life and education...
 and released the album Black Byrd on the Blue Note
Blue note

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower Pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres....
 label. Black Byrd was the first of a string of albums that would define fusion jazz and lay the foundation for acid jazz and neo soul.

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