Jimmy Carl Black
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
James Inkanish Jr.
- Indian Ink
- The Indian of the Group
February 1, 1938
El Paso, Texas, U.S.
November 1, 2008 (aged 70)
Siegsdorf, Germany
- Musician
- songwriter
- record producer
- Drums
- percussion
- vocals
late 1950s – 2008
1990s–2008[edit]
Black performed as a guest vocalist with the Muffin Men, a Frank Zappa tribute 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.
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]
An autobiographical audio production with Jimmy Carl Black was recorded in 2007, called The Jimmy Carl Black Story, produced by Jon Larsen.[2]
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.