It is doubtful that a more important research topic exists in music history than sorting out various performers with the given name of Eugene. Making sure fathers are not mixed up with their sons, nor blamed for their sins, has also been a hot topic from time to time. Contributions to both discussions can be made in the case of reed player Gene Mikell, also known as Eugene Mikell, Jr., sometimes confused for his father Eugene Mikell, Sr., who was also known as Francis Eugene Mikell.

Not all Eugenes bother to answer to "Gene", but the one that did in the Mikell family began playing with classic jazz, gospel and blues bands in the late '20s. Brother Otto Mikell was also a professional saxophonist.

Despite a discography that invites comparison with an oversize sandwich, Gene Mikell's contribution to jazz and related genres of black classical music is overshadowed by his father's work as a music teacher and skill with both a machine gun and baton whilst a member of the famed 369th Infantry Jazz Band during the second World War. Even considering that machine gun it is still a rare case of a music teacher being more famous than a recording artist. Nonetheless, Gene Mikell is credited by discographer Tom Lord as having played on nearly 30 jazz recording sessions between the early '30s and 1973. He also played many live gigs around New York City in his later years. Lord miraculously makes a Mikell mistake by crediting one E. Eugene Mikell with a tenor saxophone session back in 1929--this would have also been Gene Mikell, the father's name would have read F. Eugene Mikell if presented in this manner.

Actually the situation is not really so complicated, even taking into account the average person's tendancy to become flummoxed when exposed to the sheer grandeur of the name Eugene. If someone is holding a recording in their hand and the liner notes indicate the Eugene Mikell presence under any variation of the name, then it is the son Gene Mikell. The exception to this rule is the Memphis Archive's collection of The Complete Recordings by Jim Europe's 369th Hellfighter's Band. This is the only apparent instance of a recording credit for the father, as assistant conductor. Recordings from the first two decades of the son's career include a great deal of grandly entertaining music, much of it thematically appropriate to various compilation schemes. These sorts of collections are an easy place to find Gene Mikell hanging around a bandstand: the Harlem scene, dope songs, female jazz singers, big band jive, the swing era, original soul sisters and so forth. He played on many sides cut by the fine Mills Blue Rhythm Band. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi