James Inkanish, Jr. (February 1, 1938 – November 1, 2008), known professionally as Jimmy Carl Black, was an original member of
the Mothers of Invention, providing drums and vocals.[1][2]
Background and early career: 1960s–1990s
Born in
El Paso, Texas, Black was of mixed American Indian descent through both his father and his mother. His
trademark line was "Hi Boys and Girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black, and I'm the
Indian of the group." The line can be heard several times on
The Mothers of Invention's album We're Only in It for the Money (for example, on the tracks "
Are You Hung Up?" and "Concentration Moon"). The line can also be heard in Haskell Wexler's 1969 movie Medium Cool, which uses several songs by Zappa and the Mothers. Black was also addressed as such by
Theodore Bikel in the film 200 Motels. He has been credited on some Mothers albums as playing "drums, vocals, and poverty".[1][3]
Black appeared in the movie directed by
Frank Zappa, 200 Motels, and sings the song "Lonesome Cowboy Burt". Black also made a few more appearances with Zappa in 1975 and 1980,[1] and also appeared as guest vocalist on "Harder Than Your Husband" on the Zappa album You Are What You Is (1981). The same year, 1981, he performed the very same song at the discothèque Aladdin, Oasen, Bergen, Norway, as part of
The Grandmothers, after their release Grandmothers (1980), an anthology of previously unreleased recordings by ex-members of The Mothers of Invention.[3][4]
Jimmy Carl Black on Frank Zappa:
I would have told him that I appreciated his friendship through the years and that I had learned a lot from him. I really loved Frank like you do a brother.[5]
In 1972, Black played with Geronimo Black, the band he founded with Mothers wind player
Bunk Gardner.[3] In the summer of 1975 he played drums for
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band under the stage name Indian Ink, notably at the band's appearance at the
Knebworth Festival. In the eighties Black and Gardner and
Don Preston performed under the name "The Grandmothers" along with several other ex-Zappa musicians, but the band soon broke up. Black then moved to
Austin, Texas, where he met English singer
Arthur Brown. The duo recorded an album of classic
R&B songs, Black, Brown and Blue, and performed live together.
Black moved to Italy in 1992 and then to Germany in 1995, where he reformed The Grandmothers with original members Preston and Gardner and with Dutch bass player Ener Bladezipper (
stagename of René Mesritz) and Italian guitar player Sandro Oliva.[2][6][7]
1990s–2008
Black performed as a guest vocalist with the
Muffin Men, a
Frank Zappatribute band based in
Liverpool, England, and with
Jon Larsen, on the surrealistic Strange News From Mars project, featuring several other Zappa alumni, such as
Tommy Mars,
Bruce Fowler,
Arthur Barrow.[1] Black toured around Europe with the
Muffin Men between 1993 and 2007 playing hundreds of gigs, and appearing on many of the band's CDs and DVDs.
Black and
Eugene Chadbourne played as "the Jack and Jim Show" around Europe and US between 1992 and 2003. They performed many Zappa and Beefheart compositions alongside other material.
At
Steely Dan's 2001
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction,
Walter Becker asked the assembled if they remembered who the original Mothers of Invention drummer was. Becker unsuccessfully lobbied the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for Black's inclusion as a founding member of The Mothers of Invention.[1]
Black was diagnosed with
lung cancer in August 2008, and died on November 1, 2008, in Siegsdorf, Germany, at the age of 70. Benefits were held on November 9, 2008, at the Bridgehouse II in London and December 7, 2008, in Crown Valley, California. He is survived by his wife, Monika Black, by three sons and two daughters from his first marriage and by a daughter born out of wedlock.[2]
In 2013, the documentary Where's the Beer and When Do We Get Paid? about Black began running in Germany.[8]
Black's autobiography For Mother's Sake was published by Monika Black on November 1, 2013, to mark the fifth anniversary of his death. The incomplete manuscript was rounded off using material from the synoptic web-bio Black published on his website, and extracts from various interviews Black gave. The main body of text was transcribed from tapes recorded by Roddie Gilliard in the Muffin Men tour bus during 1995-1998.
Sandro Oliva & the Blue Pampurio's, X-Tra Combo, Behind The Mirror, Boogie Stuff, Cosmik Debris, Mick Pini Band, Jimmy Carl Black Band, Tempest Quartet, Happy Metal Band, etc. (1996–2008)
Discography
Solo
Albuquerque Bound b/w Thank You, Mr. Bill (1980) 45 on Helios Records
Grandmothers (
The Grandmothers, 1980) – an anthology of previously unreleased recordings by ex-members of The Mothers of Invention (
Rhino Records)[4]