Oliver "Ollie" Mitchell, a big-band trumpet player who performed and recorded with such stars as Elvis Presley and B.B. King before moving to Hawaii in the 1980s and launching successful bands on Oahu and Hawaii island, died May 11 at his home in Puako, Hawaii. He was 86.

Mitchell was a member of The Wrecking Crew, a 1960s group of Hollywood studio musicians who played in recording sessions for groups such as the Carpenters, the Everly Brothers and the Rolling Stones.

After he and wife Nancy moved to Oahu, he started the jazz combo Sunday Band West in 1985.

"Ollie was a great musician," said band member Rick Broadwell, a trumpet player. "Ollie was that rare combination of musician that was a great player and a master of his instrument (who) could also teach.

"The whole band took on his persona, which was very positive and uplifting," said Broadwell, who began playing with Mitchell in 1987. "He would gently teach and instruct, but never with pretension. The way he taught, he related it to living a good life, how lessons in life and music could help you (throughout) your whole life."

The Mitchells moved to the Big Island in 1995. Ollie Mitchell led Olliephonic Horns Inc., a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 dedicated to instilling a love of American music in Hawaii island youth, according to the band’s website.

Mitchell was born April 8, 1927, in Los Angeles and was the son of Hollywood trumpet player Harold Mitchell.

Following a brief stint in the Navy, he went out on the road and found success as a studio musician in Hollywood, playing trumpet with the likes of bandleaders Buddy Rich and Harry James, said Nancy Mitchell, his widow.

"He was on everything from the Beatles to Frank Sinatra," she said.

In the late 1970s in the L.A. area, Mitchell put together a group called the Sunday Band. The name stemmed from his day-planner notes, which always associated Sunday with band practice. When the Mitchells moved to Oahu in 1985, Ollie started the Sunday Band West.

The Mitchells moved back to California for a few years before relocating to Hawaii island in 1995. Ollie and others formed a band and practiced at Byrd’s Audio, a music store in Waimea. The Olliephonic Horns began when Mitchell got the group a regular gig at the Blue Dolphin, a restaurant in Kawaihae. It played every Friday night for six years until the restaurant closed.

"Ollie called (the audience) snowbirds," said band member Terry Warner, a trombone player. "They would come from all over the world to listen to us. We were the only group (on the island) playing traditional big-band music."

The band resumed playing twice a month at the location, which recently reopened as the Blue Dragon.

In addition to wife Nancy, Mitchell is survived by son Steve, daughter Maria Leavitt, stepson John Hackleman, stepdaughter Susan Hackleman, 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Private services are planned. The family requests no flowers but suggests donations to Olliephonic Horns, P.O. Box 44493, Kamuela, HI 96743.