[Harp-L] Big Walter Horton and Jeff Carp film

["Mick Zaklan" <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

  Haven't seen the Big Walter clip that was discussed on harp-l earlier but
wonder how much of this stuff never sees the light of day.  One of my best
times ever was on the Chicago lakefront in 1969, taking in a long-forgotten
blues festival.  I immediately noticed that the event was being
professionally filmed.  The opening act, I believe, was the Willie Dixon
Allstars---featuring Big Walter Horton.  I remember Walter being fully
engaged and playing beautifully.  I assumed the man sounded like that all
the time but in the dozen years that followed, I was never again able to
catch Horton sober and/or seemingly interested in playing his instrument.
But theoretically, somewhere in a film canister on a shelf, is about 20
minutes of Walter masterfully navigating his way through the Willie Dixon
songbook.
  There weren't many harp players at this fest, but I do recall Little Mack
Simmons nearly stealing the show with a high energy set that included plenty
of showmanship and Junior Parker-ish harp.  Paul Oscher, backing up Muddy
Waters, closed the event with "Mojo".  I remember thinking what an upgrade
Paul was over Mojo Buford.
  But my favorite player that day was the late Jeff Carp.  My memory's a
little rusty; but I think Jeff might have even done triple duty.  I remember
him tearing things up with the legendary Earl Hooker---the highlight of the
festival for me.  I also recall Jeff working with Sam Lay and possibly Otis
Spann.  He played his ass off and looked like he was having the time of his
life.  A much too short life as it turned out.
  Most people probably know Jeff from his nifty chromatic playing on
Muddy's "All Aboard" tune.  Or that head-snapping intro on Sam Lay's version
of "Tell Me, Mama" that gets your attention pronto.  But Jeff wasn't just a
session player but a busy, gigging musician.  I used to see his name in the
paper all the time.  When I stopped seeing it, I assumed that he had moved
to one of the coasts in order to get his career going.  Depending upon
whether or not he could sing, I always thought Jeff was positioned to be the
next big harpist out of Chicago.  After Butterfield and Musselwhite.  At the
time I felt Jeff, Billy Lupkin, and Jerry Portnoy were all equally capable
of holding down the harp chair with Muddy Waters.
  Eventually I heard that Jeff had died from some sort of mysterious
accident in Florida.  A few years later, I had a chance to ask Sam Lay about
it.  Sam spun a bizarre tale about Jeff jumping off a cruise ship after a
berserk passenger went after him with a weapon.  The body was never
recovered and the family was completely devastated.  Recently, I
accidentally bumped into Scott Dirks online and he cleared up some things
for me.  First; the festival was indeed filmed, by Adelphi Records, and
there is a short clip on their website.  Secondly; noted blues producer Dick
Shurman, a friend of Jeff's, told Scott basically the same story that Sam
told me.  Jeff was on a cruise that departed from Florida.  A passenger got
amped up on acid (LSD) and started slashing at people with a knife.  When he
got close to Jeff, Jeff instinctively dove overboard.
  I did notice that Jeff Carp's death is listed on one of the blues
websites as 1/1/73, in Panama.  Sounds like possibly a New Year's Eve party
gone really bad.  Anyway, a big loss to the blues and harmonica community.
I never met the kid.  I don't think he was out of his 20's yet.  He seemed
like an ambitious guy genuinely interested in getting better and better on
the instrument.  Jeff was doing it the right way, too; working with as many
authentic bluesmen around the city as he could.  No telling how far he
could've gone.  But he left behind some nice recordings and might possibly
be in the Adelphi film, along with Big Walter Horton.

---Mick Zaklan