He Was The Indian Of The Group

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention: We're Only In It For The Money: "Who Needs The Peace Corp? - Concentration Moon" [mp3]

In yesterday's post, I admitted some guilt for not posting about Mitch Mitchell's passing in a more timely manner, and here I am today, first learning of Jimmy Carl Black's passing on November 1st. Should I feel guilty about lacking this information for three weeks? Am I not paying close enough attention at the news sites I visit, or maybe they're the ones who missed it? I'd hate to think that Jimmy Carl Black didn't deserve at least a short paragraph or two from the AP or Reuters...Better that I be the ignorant one, than this man's passing going completely unnoticed or ignored by everyone else.

Jimmy Carl Black was the original drummer for The Mothers Of Invention. In fact, back in 1963/1964, they were called The Soul Giants and Frank Zappa wasn't even in the group yet! When The Soul Giants' guitarist quit, Zappa joined, immediately took control of the group and changed their name to The Mothers...The rest is history, if you happen to care about any of this...

Jimmy Carl Black was a Cheyenne-American from El Paso, TX, and aside from being the drummer for The Mothers, was best known for always introducing himself by saying "Hi, I'm Jimmy Carl Black, and I'm the Indian of the group." which you can hear in the clip above...

[Hot Poop Fun Fact: My sign-off "Hotcha!" is uttered by Frank in "Who Needs The Peace Corp?", although I took the word from Jimmy Durante]

In the clip below, you will hear Jimmy Carl Black singing "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" from 200 Motels...

Frank Zappa: 200 Motels: "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" [mp3]

In the years after he played with Zappa, Jimmy Carl Black also played with Captain Beefheart, Eugene Chadbourne, Arthur Brown, and a variety of different bands featuring other former members of Zappa groups. Some of them were Zappa tribute bands, like The Grandmothers, but most were original R&B-influenced rock bands, because in the end, R&B was Jimmy Carl's thing...

While Frank Zappa himself is inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame (once again, I leave it to you to decide how important the RNRHOF is), The Mothers Of Invention as a group, have not been inducted, and there's been a fairly strong and vocal contingent within the music industry who have been lobbying to correct this...

Which seems fair enough to me. As I mentioned yesterday, Jimi Hendrix was only able to reach is own potential and realize his own vision by surrounding himself with other players capable of "keeping up" and actually contributing their own formidable skills, and that is true of any notable musician, including Frank Zappa. Frank needed great players and colorful performers to achieve his vision, and The Mothers of Invention were that great and colorful band that Frank led through the early, formative years of his professional career, providing the R'n'B, roots Rock, and Doo Wop that would remain the foundation of Zappa's music to the end, no matter how sophisticated it could get...

Rest In Peace, Jimmy Carl Black. I'm sorry this took so long.

Hotcha! Hank