Jeff Carp, the harmonica maestro - Part 2

Jeff Carp during the recording session for Earl Hooker's album Don't Have To Worry, 1969

My previous post about Jeff Carp can be found here.

The point of this second post on Jeff is due to the fact that recently I have come across more of his recorded output and wanted to share it with the internet so people can appreciate him more.

Updated, complete, discography (to my knowledge) -

1966 - Goin' To Chicago (compilation)

Jeff recorded 3 songs with Sam Lay's band - Tell Me Mama (Originally done by Little Walter), Walking By Myself (Jimmy Rogers) and I Can't Be Satisfied (Muddy Waters).
The band -
Sam Lay - vocals
Paul Asbell - guitar
Jeff Carp - harmonica
Boots Hamilton - piano
Geno Scaggs - bass
Billy Davenport - drums

Jeff's playing is great on all three of these tracks, even more so considering he was only 18 years old at most and it would have been the first time he was in a recording studio. On Walking By Myself, he recreates Walter Horton's harmonica solo from the original record pretty much note for note which shows his incredible skill at such a young age.

April 1969 - Fathers and Sons (Muddy Waters)
Mentioned in previous post.

1969 - String Fever (The Soulful Strings)
Mentioned in previous post.

May 1969 - Mammoth recording session with Earl Hooker's band resulting in the albums I Got 'Im If You Miss 'Im (with John Lee Hooker, already mentioned in previous post), Don't Have To Worry (With Andrew Odom as a featured vocalist) and Funk - The Last of the Great Earl Hooker.
The band -
Earl Hooker - guitar and vocals
Andrew Odom - vocals
Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker - piano, organ, vocals
Paul Asbell - guitar
Jeff Carp - harmonica, vocals
Geno Scaggs - bass
Roosevelt Shaw - drums

This band had such a great groove.

Don't Have To Worry is a brilliant album with some great tracks on it. It's an album which shows that Jeff knew how to be an excellent accompanying player as well as highlighting his skills on chromatic harmonica on three of the tracks - Blue Guitar, Moanin' and Groanin' and Come To Me Right Away, Baby.
Even on the diatonic, his skill is shown on tracks such as The Sky is Crying where he provides rhythmic fills and trills to add to the overall sound of the song. In fact, he keeps this up throughout all the songs he appears on - all apart from Hookin', You Got To Lose, Universal Rock and Don't Have To Worry.
Overall, this album is great!

Funk is exactly what the title says - the last songs Earl Hooker recorded. He was backed by the same band as the previous album but Andrew Odom doesn't contribute vocals.
Even though it is pretty much straight ahead blues, as opposed to the funk the title suggests, it is a showcase of the guitar genius of Earl Hooker. The fact that Jeff plays harmonica on it is just an added bonus!
It isn't just Jeff's playing which is great - on Ball Game on a Rainy Day, Jeff sings, the only time he was recorded doing so, as far as I'm aware. His singing voice is reminiscent of another young white blues harmonica player from around the same generation of Jeff - Paul Butterfield, a legend in his own right. Had Jeff not died in the boat accident detailed in my previous post then who knows where he could have got to, not only as a harmonica player but as a frontman and vocalist?

EDIT - MORE STUFF JEFF PLAYED ON!

1969 - Wild Is Love (Patti Drew)
Jeff also played on a few songs on pop/soul singer Patti Drew's 1969 album Wild Is Love, contributing blues harp to a surrounding similar to his work with the Soulful Strings earlier in the year. Both songs I heard Jeff play on are where he does so while playing amplified.
On Beggar For The Blues Jeff's amped harp is busy behind the vocals but not over the top, showing skill in all three octaves.
On Hundreds and Thousands Of Guys the entire song is cool and funky, helped a lot by Jeff's harp playing. This song shows his individuality playing behind the funky main riffs of the song, proving harp and sax can mesh, not only in blues.

These are the only songs YouTube allowed me to listen to - it is a real shame that much of what Jeff played on is so obscure!

1969 - The Spice Of Life (Marlena Shaw)
Jeff played harmonica on the first five tracks on Marlena Shaw's album The Spice Of Life, decidedly adding some blues spice to the funky soul tracks.
Woman of the Ghetto is the first song Jeff appears on. He enters the scene at around around 3.50, with some high, piercing first position to announce his arrival. He plays acoustic harp on this song, as he does on the next three tracks. With the use of some hand wah-wah effects while playing low end first position he displays his influence - he sounds remarkably like Walter Horton!
Call It Stormy Weather is an adaptation of T-Bone Walker's Call It Stormy Monday, and Jeff's acoustic harp is in the spotlight on this track. It is probably the most he has contributed to a song on this session and he acquits himself very well, adding trills and his own unmistakable sound.
Where Can I Go is a Latin-tinged funky tune where Jeff bubbles under the main body of the song. The song itself, to me at least, has a Tom Jones feel to it, not too dissimilar to songs like Delilah. Jeff's harp contrasts with the electric organ to create an interesting mix.
The final song Jeff plays acoustically on is I'm Satisfied. At 53 seconds, Jeff plays some high end first position notes, then at 1 minutes 40, he goes down to the low end. At this point, he's adding little fills when Marlena stops singing. Then towards, the end, he sounds like Walter Horton again, while his playing is the forefront of the song while it fades.
I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free) is a gospel inspired number and the final song Jeff plays on. It is the only one that he uses a mic and amplifier on. He plays at the very start of the song, announcing himself. The rhythm is inspired by gospel arrangements and interestingly Jeff's mournful harp contrasts very well with the joyous rhythm and subject. Again, he's displaying excellent accompaniment while letting his own sound shine through. This final song is an interesting mix of blues, funk and gospel which comes together perfectly.

Jeff's session work on this album, and indeed Patti Drew's album as mentioned earlier, show his incredible ability to fit traditional blues harmonica sounds to a different setting and still manage to stand out with his own individual sound.

1970 - The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions
Mentioned in previous post.


There are other sessions that I am aware Jeff played on, with Lightnin' Hopkins. However, I've not heard anything from and I can't seem to buy them anywhere. If anyone has information on these sessions and material, let me know!

Most of this material is pretty rare and hard to find. I was lucky enough to find what I did through the website discogs.com where you can find almost any record, cassette or CD. I'm not on any form of commission to say that, it's just a great website! I'd urge you to give it a go if you want to find any of the material I've referenced here - although, be warned. Because this stuff is so rare and obscure don't be surprised if it's pretty much impossible to find.

Selected links

Here's Jeff's vocal with Earl Hooker, Ball Game on a Rainy Day -

An example of Jeff's chromatic playing, with Andrew Odom on vocals, Come To Me, Right Away Baby -

Is You Ever Seen A One-Eyed Woman Cry and Look On Yonder's Wall (Big Moose on vocals on both) -

The Sky Is Crying and Moanin' and Groanin' (Andrew Odom on vocals on both, the second number has Jeff playing chromatic) -

Jeff playing with Patti Drew on Beggar For The Blues -

Jeff accompanying Marlena Shaw on the gospel-inspired song I Wish I Knew -

Here is a YouTube playlist of all of Jeff's playing that I could find.

I hope all who read this think the same way about Jeff as I do - that he is a lost genius in blues harmonica circles. I also hope that post goes some way to fill in some gaps in terms of his recorded output.

See you next time!

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.

An introduction
Well alright everybody hello and welcome to the first post on this blog. I'm not entirely too sure how it all works so give me time. The main upshot of this blog is to try to educate the wider world of the Blues, what I see to be Blues and things like that. You may not agree with me and if so, cool - you don't have to read this.
With that said, let's get into it.
I started listening to the Blues actively in late 2014 through Fats Domino and from him I worked backwards, as many modern Blues fans do, to the roots. I soon discovered Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson and other Delta Blues heroes like Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters. Something in this music made me feel something like I had never felt before - indescribable feeling were suddenly being put into words and song. I was elated!
Since then, Blues is the only music I listen to. Why, you may ask. Well despite it being a seemingly repetitive music (something I love about it - no room for deviation, and everyone can understand it), there are so many styles, so many sub-genres of Blues, so many artists, so many bands, so many combinations of it which make it such an endless pool of music and talent. You can listen to any Blues song and it will touch you. You can find out new artists and know what they're all about. I still can't really believe it, that there's so many songs out there to listen to.
I've been using a capital letter to describe this fantastic genre of music. Blues. Because I have a bone to pick with the modern (certainly UK - based) Blues scene. There are countless Blues (blues? Blues?) bands in the UK performing regularly. I have seen some and yes, they play Blues as a large proportion of their material. However, sometimes there will be instances where the band say they perform Blues and to me it's more of a rock - based music. Do I mind? Not particularly, I listened to AC/DC as a younger lad. But it's when they market themselves as a Blues band that gets my goat. At what point does it deviate from a Blues sound to blues-rock to rock? To me, it's when the songs lose the typical 8, 12, 16, 24 (there are, I am sure, others) bar format that this happens. Therefore, I respect the musicianship, but if I want to hear the Blues, I don't listen to that.
But why the capital letter? I think I use it as a sign of respect. Pure, unadulterated Blues deserves this respect because when I listen to Robert Johnson, Guitar Slim, Junior Wells, Lonnie Johnson, Victoria Spivey and many, many others, I listen to the pure stuff. And that's the way I see the Blues should be played. It's a personal thing and I'm glad that in America there are young players like Quon Willis, Cameron Smith and Creighton Wodarski playing the Blues as it should be (there are others, forgive me - time is short!).
I think I've gone on enough for a first entry into this new blog thing. If you enjoyed it, don't forget to check back every now and again - uploads and entries will be sporadic to begin with as I have important exams in the coming months, but rest assured there will be entries that (hopefully) will spread the word of the Blues. Thanks for reading!
I play the harmonica and I have a Youtube channel. If you want to see what I do, then head on over there and subscribe, it helps the channel out and share the videos, if that's what you like to see.

My channel - click here.

That's all for this week - sorry for rambling, but that's going to be the nature of this blog. Hope you enjoyed! :)