An American music legend, the late great Jimmy Carl Black—who passed away on November 1, 2008—was a key member and drummer of the original Mothers Of Invention, appearing on classic Mothers albums like Absolutely Free. Mothers Of Invention founder Frank Zappa sadly passed away back in 1993 but Jimmy Carl Black rocks on in 2008 with a number of releases under his own name and he’s paid the highest honor by Norwegian guitarist / composer Jon Larsen on a double CD set entitled The Jimmy Carl Black Story. Larsen’s guitar work is exemplary here and backed by a number of talented Norwegian players, he’s crafted an amazing instrumental album that sounds inspired by the avant gard instrumental tendencies of the early Mothers. Some cuts on the mostly instrumental CD feature Jimmy Carl Black on spoken word vocals. A second CD included in the double CD set features the Jimmy Carl Black Story as told by Black himself. As fabulous as Larsen’s Zappa-esque instrumentals are on disc one, Black comes alive on the second CD retelling a number of classic Mothers tales of the ‘60s involving Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Hendrix and much more. While guitarist Larson may be best known for his albums with his legendary Django Reinhardt ensemble Hot Club de Norvge, which he founded way back in 1979, his tributes to the late Jimmy Carl Black adds yet another chapter to his musical repertoire. www.hotclub.no

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