"The Jack and Jim Show play a wonderful combination of styles associated with both players, in most cases creating a transformation into something else. "Willie the Pimp" of Zappa becomes an oldstyle country blues, for example. Jazz, psychedelic rock, standards, blues, country and western, bluegrass, native American Indian music and folk rock are all part of a typical evening with Jack and Jim. Eugene plays guitar, banjo and sings. Jimmy plays drums and sings. Chadbourne's knowledge of Black began the first time he saw the cover of Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention, circa the second half of the '60s. Staring at the picture of Black and bandmates in a record store, the youthful Doc Chad was approached by an old woman who ran the music store. "Don't look at that record!" she warned him. "You're a nice boy." Within a year Black's famous comment "Hi boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group" had become an in-joke among teenagers in Eugene's hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Every day when the fascistic gym coach took attendance, someone would always repeat Jimmy's comment, totally irritating the coach who had no idea what it was all about. Dr. Chad finally met Jimmy in the early '90s when the former had a chance to invite 11 musicians of his choice to the improvisation project at the Moers Jazz Festival. When he found out Jimmy and his wife were moving to Europe, the Doc proposed they begin working as a duo, and so the Jack and Jim Show was born. Eugene became "Jack" based on a painting Captain Beefheart had done of Jimmy Carl Black, at one point one of the drummers in Beefheart's Magic Band. The picture was of an Indian man and a jackrabbit, Beefheart entitled it "Jack and Jim." Having already stolen alot from Beefheart, Chadbourne decided stealing this title would be allright, especially since it tied in with his lifelong love of rabbits. The Chadbourne family allow wild rabbits to live in their backyard and the Doctor has often irritated music journalists by insisting his main aesthetic influence is Bugs Bunny. The Jack and Jim Show has toured in Europe, the United States and Canada ever since and has released 17 CDs of which the latest is "Hearing is Believing" , to be released in March of 2007 by the Boxholder label. A series of DVDs are also coming out on the New York City based Straw Into Gold series. In the winter of 2001 Jack and Jim invited British keyboardist and electronics player Pat Thomas to join them for a special tribute to Jimi Hendrix organized in Reggio di Emila by Walter Pratti. The threesome hit it off very well and have done several tours since then, including the Kongsberg Jazz Festival in Norway and Action 2005 in Nancy, France."-Eugene Chadbourne
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Rock and Related Improvised Rock Song Based Music Chadbourne. Eugene Staff Picks & Recommended Items October 2007
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