Jimmy Carl Black
| Jimmy Carl Black | |
|---|---|
Jimmy Carl Black performing with the Muffin Men August 12, 2005, Cropredy Festival
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Inkanish, Jr. |
| Also known as | Indian Ink, The Indian Of The Group |
| Born |
February 1, 1938 El Paso, Texas, United States |
| Died | November 1, 2008 (aged 70) Siegsdorf, Germany |
| Genres | Alternative rock, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
| Instruments | Drums, percussion, vocals |
| Years active | late 1950s – 2008 |
| Associated acts |
The Mothers of Invention, Muffin Men, Captain Beefheart, Geronimo Black, The Grandmothers, Black, Brown and Blue, Strange News From Mars |
Jimmy Carl Black (February 1, 1938 – November 1, 2008), born James Carl Inkanish, Jr., was a drummer and vocalist for The Mothers of Invention.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Black was of mixed Native American heritage. 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 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 'Medium Cool'. He 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".
He 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, 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.
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.
In 1972, he played with Geronimo Black, the band he founded with Mothers wind player Bunk Gardner. 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 Jimmy and Bunk and Don Preston performed under the name "The Grandmothers" along with a bunch of other ex-Zappa musicians, but the band soon disbanded. Then Jimmy 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.
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