Jeff Carp – an appreciation of an under recognised harmonica genius

Jeff Carp (Above, Photo credit Norman Dayron), a lost genius...

Jeff Carp is still somewhat of a mystery in Blues harmonica circles, even though he died over 44 years ago. He was a harmonica player who displayed unique skill in his recorded work and he recorded and performed with Blues luminaries such as Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, and legendary cousins John Lee and Earl Hooker.

This blog post will be both an appreciation of Jeff's playing from my own perspective, and also an attempt at getting some information about him, as not much is available. This is a shame because the recorded work he left is of a very high standard and he should be more well known.

Selected recordings

In April 1969, Jeff played chromatic harmonica on the opening track of the Muddy Waters album Fathers and Sons, All Aboard, duelling with Paul Butterfield who was on diatonic. This album was released in August of 1969.

In May 1969, Jeff played harmonica on the John Lee and Earl Hooker album If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im which was released around 1969-1970. My appreciation for this album, along with the Muddy album will be detailed later in the post.

Again in 1969 (what a year this was turning out to be for Jeff's recorded output), he played on a few tracks on the Chicago soul-jazz outfit The Soulful Strings' album String Fever. Even though this is far from straight ahead Blues which Jeff had played on up to this point, his harmonica solo (coming in at around 1 minute 50 seconds) in the track Chocolate Candy is distinctly Bluesy. It has shades of Butterfield yet doesn't stray too far from the overall mood of the string-laden track.
In The Voices Inside, Jeff comes in about 1 minute and 20 seconds in and his solo has more than distinct shades of Butterfield. I personally think the master would have been impressed.
Listening to Jeff's contribution to Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, I wonder - did they really get Butterfield in to play harp? Are they sure it's Jeff?! I know that is a high compliment but I feel they sound uncannily similar.

In May 1970, Jeff played harmonica on some tracks on the album Howling Wolf London Sessions and this album was released in August of 1971. This was the first work by Jeff that I heard and it has had a lasting impression on me - so much so that I was compelled to write this post! He played fantastically well and really, this should have announced him onto the Chicago scene with a bang.

Above is a picture of the band that Jeff played in with Paul Asbell, Mahogany Hall. This picture is from around 1972 and Jeff is the one on the tyre. (Photo credit Paul Asbell)


What happened to Jeff in the end?

I must thank Paul Asbell - without his help this post would not be complete. Paul played guitar on the Fathers and Sons album, and the Earl and John Lee album, amongst others.
I feel that for the sake of this post I should outline what happened to Jeff and I'll start with what it says on allmusic.com. According to that website, he was born on July 6th 1948 and died around January in 1973 in a boating accident. The story that is told in the liner notes to If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im by Tony Russell is as follows - 'Jeff Carp either fell off a boat while going up the Amazon, or fell off a boat smuggling something back into the United States on the way back from South America. Went overboard and was never seen.'

Now, all of the other stories I have heard about Jeff's demise feature a boat - that is a recurring factor we must take as fact. However, this next account of what happened is from Paul Asbell (who I must again thank - thanks a ton Paul!) who was a musical partner of Jeff's for many years, he said:

"I'm not sure if anyone has the full story on Jeff's demise. It happened a couple of years after I moved to the east coast, so I only heard the tale from mutual friends. I DO know for certain a couple of things, though…
By '73 or so, he had detoxed, was living clean and sober, and was still with his lady Scarlett, who had a kid named Natasha. (Scarlett was an experienced sailor, and had lived on Tortola, an island in the BVI).
The skinny that I got on what happened is that Scarlett, Natasha, and Jeff had hooked up a gig crewing for a wealthy guy, who owned a boat. Apparently, the night before the voyage was to take place, a party took place on the boat, everyone dropped LSD, and the boat owner somehow started freaking out, and threatened everyone onboard w/ a knife. Everybody jumped overboard, and tried to swim to shore. Jeff arrived onshore first, and commandeered a rowboat, in order to go out to rescue Scarlett and Natasha. Eventually, they all made it to land, but Jeff was never seen again, after he went back out in the rowboat.
We had been tight for a number of years, playing w/ Earl Hooker, Sam Lay, and doing a bunch of records together (John Lee H, Lightnin' Hopkins, Fathers & Sons, London Howlin' Wolf, etc). I assumed that somehow, our trails would bring us back together, as it was a pretty tight partnership for a number of years in both of our musical lives…"

So there it is - I think this may be the closest we can come to finding out what really happened to Jeff. It does send chills down my spine when I think of what may have happened to him.

Why I appreciate his musicianship

So now onto my appreciation of Jeff's playing. Personally I feel as though Jeff is one of my favourite harmonica players for many reasons.

Firstly, his playing on the Howling Wolf London Sessions album, which saw the Wolf being paired with rock musicians such as Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Ringo Starr and Ian Stewart, is very expressive and when I first heard the album I wondered who it was that was contributing harp. This made an immediate impression on me and when I first heard the album two years ago now, I was intrigued. His little fills in between the Wolf’s singing give a new dimension to the music and his playing on Highway 49 and What a Woman! made me sit up and notice. Further down the page, I will include links to these songs as well as a link to Poor Boy, a song from the same sessions which I enjoy.

Secondly, Jeff’s playing on the album  by John Lee and Earl Hooker is a prime example of how to back up John Lee, who was infamous for adding chords as he felt – he was one of the most difficult musicians to back up, but Jeff does a very commendable job. His playing on the reworking of the classic Boom Boom, Bang Bang, Bang Bang is, in my eyes, wonderful playing. He displays remarkable control over his instrument and is also able to stand back and let John Lee be John Lee whenever he needs to. This is a key example of playing rhythm on harmonica and not doing what self-indulgent musicians would do and hog the limelight. Jeff contributes to the overall mix of the song and does it very well indeed – I find that this album is one I regularly listen to, purely because of Jeff’s playing.

On the 1969 Muddy Waters album, Fathers and Sons (similar to the Howling Wolf album, this time Muddy was paired with young white Blues players Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn), Jeff plays chromatic harmonica alongside Paul’s diatonic on the opening track, All Aboard (an adaptation of the Arthur Crudup tune Mean Old Frisco). The twin harp duel/duet works perfectly and Jeff plays with wonderful inventiveness, not stepping over Muddy’s vocals but knowing when to step out and play some wonderful rhythm. This track displays Jeff’s ability on chromatic to a tee and if he had lived longer than he did, then he could have preceded what William Clarke did in the 1980s and 1990s, taking the chromatic harmonica to new heights. Some people (I am undecided as yet) have seen this track as being evidence that Jeff was a superior player to Paul (it is no mean feat to say this – Paul was an absolute monster on harmonica and his tone is one of very few that are recognizable and unique) and it makes me wonder – how far could Jeff have gone were he to have lived?

The fourth reason why I feel that Jeff should be more highly regarded is because of the mystery surrounding his life. Jeff, despite playing with such luminaries such as the aforementioned Muddy, Wolf and the Hookers, has not got a Wikipedia page. To me, this seems a tremendous injustice – his contributions to Blues harmonica playing, I feel, have been invaluable, yet he has no proper recognition. Maybe this is just further confirmation that he is just a modern Bluesman? I have only seen three photographs of Jeff and I have not seen concrete evidence regarding his birth or death dates. Indeed, the Wikipedia page for the Howling Wolf album states Jeff was 19 while recording the album (this would have been in 1970, while the album was released in late 1971). If he was born on July 6th 1948, as Allmusic states, then he would have been 21 when the Wolf album was being recorded, in May 1970. This just highlights the mystery surrounding his life, and while Wikipedia is often regarded as being a far from completely reputable source, it would help to have to certainty regarding dates.
Paul Asbell has told me that Jeff was a year or so older than him and that meant he must have been born around 1947 to 1948. As for his unfortunate demise, Paul reckons it was around about 1974 that it happened. Whenever it was, it was a mighty shame that it happened, and who knows how far his career would have gone if he had lived.

The above photo was taken in the studio during a break in recording the Howling Wolf album. What company Jeff found himself in! (Photo credit not known)
Here is a link to a website detailing Jeff's discography.

If anybody is reading this and has any information regarding Jeff, his life and career or his death, then do not hesitate to contact me as I would love to hear from you. However, I do accept that because his death occurred more than 44 years ago now, this may be somewhat improbable.

Favourite examples of Jeff's playing

All Aboard, from the Muddy Waters album Fathers and Sons, showcasing Jeff's skill on the chromatic.

Bang Bang Bang Bang! from the Earl and John Lee Hooker album, If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im.

Chocolate Candy, from Jeff's work with the Soulful Strings - listen out for around the 1:50 mark.

The Voices Inside, from the same sessions. His solo is from 1:20.

These remaining songs are from the Howling Wolf album and they are among the first work of Jeff that I heard and what made me notice his playing.

Poor Boy - version 1. This was the song that was originally included on the album.

Version 2 of Poor Boy. A slightly different version but Jeff is still at the forefront of the song. It's longer by around a minute and also has some slightly different lyrics and instrumental parts.

Highway 49, originally done by Big Joe Williams.

Goin' Down Slow - not in the initial album but still a fine example of his playing.

So what has been the point of this post? Hopefully to enlighten you about a harmonica player that many of us have heard at some point, but without realising who it might have been. I think he was a player who had wonderful skill, yet left us at an extremely young age in a tragic accident. So much mystery surrounds him and his life so I suppose all we can do is enjoy the music he left us.

One thing we can do is continue to appreciate Jeff’s playing and his contribution to the many albums he appeared on before his unfortunate demise. Above are some songs which I enjoy that Jeff graced with his wonderfully tasteful playing. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.