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]
Jimmy Carl Black (front row) with Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention (1968)
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 made a few more appearances with Zappa in 1975 and 1980,[1] and 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 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, Gardner, Don Preston, and several other ex-Zappa musicians performed under the name The Grandmothers, 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 to Germany in 1995, where he re-formed The Grandmothers with original members Preston and Gardner and with Dutch bass player Ener Bladezipper (stage name of René Mesritz) and Italian guitar player Sandro Oliva.[2][6][7]
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, and 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 the US between 1992 and 2003. They performed many Zappa and Beefheart compositions alongside other material.
AtSteely 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 out 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)
