THE INDIAN OF THE GROUP ~ JIMMY CARL BLACK & THE MUFFIN MEN - Video
PUBLISHED:  Jul 12, 2009
DESCRIPTION:
THE INDIAN OF THE GROUP - JIMMY CARL BLACK & THE MUFFIN MEN.
Biography
Born in El Paso, Texas, he was of Cheyenne heritage. His trademark line was "Hi Boys and Girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black, and I'm the Indian of the group." He has been credited on some Mothers albums as playing "drums, vocals, and poverty".

He appeared in the movie 200 Motels and sings the song Lonesome Cowboy Burt.

In the seventies he toured with Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band and with Geronimo Black, the band he founded with Mothers' wind player Bunk Gardner. 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 disbanded soon. Then Jimmy moved to Austin, Tx, where he met English singer Arthur Brown. The duo recorded an album of classic R&B songs (Black, Brown and Blue) and performed together. In 1993 Jimmy moved to Europe, where he reformed The Grandmothers with original members Don and Bunk and with Dutch bass player Ener Bladezipper and Italian guitar player Sandro Oliva.

He also worked as a guest vocalist with 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, Arthur Barrow.

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 has unsuccessfully lobbied the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for Black's inclusion as a founding member of the Mothers of Invention.

An autobiographical audio production by Jimmy Carl Black was recorded in 2007, called The Jimmy Carl Black Story, produced by Jon Larsen.

Black was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2008, and died on November 1st, 2008.

Band chronology
The Keys (1962 - ?)
The Soul Giants (1964)
The Mothers of Invention (with Frank Zappa, 1964 - 1969)
Geronimo Black (1970 - 1973)
The Valley Loboys (mid/late 1970s)
Brown Black And Blue with Arthur Brown (1980)
The Grandmothers (1980 onwards)
Jimmy Carl Black and the Mannish Boys (mid/late 1980s?)
The Jack & Jim Show (with Eugene Chadbourne, 1991 - 1994, 2007)
The Farrell and Black Band (1995 onwards)
The Muffin Men (1992 onwards)
Sandro Oliva & the Blue Pampurio's (1996 onwards)
Jon Larsen's Strange News From Mars Band (2006 - 2008)
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