Zappa Drummer Jimmy Carl Black Passes

Frank Zappa Drummer Jimmy Carl Black Passes Away

Jimmy Carl Black

Original Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black (born James Inckanish Jr. in El Paso Texas) – the self-proclaimed “Indian of the group” – passed away on Saturday, November 1. Black suffered from lung cancer and was 70-years-old. On Black’s website, a simple note reads:

Jimmy passed away peacefully last night Saturday 11/01/08 at 11:00 o’clock pm. Jimmy says hi to everybody and he doesn’t want anybody to be sad.

Black worked with the Mothers of Invention from the start, playing on the 1966 debut Freak Out! through 1970’s Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Following the Mothers, Black appeared on a number of solo Zappa albums and recorded under his own name, with his band Geronimo Black, and with a few Zappa tribute bands.

There will be a benefit for Black at London’s Bridgehouse II on November 9.