[Harp-L] RE: Harp-L Digest, Vol 55, Issue 1

["Jesse Sinaiko" <jns@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I got to this conversation late, so I am not sure what Sam Lay's version is
as opposed to mine or John Schulman's.  What I heard may not be as different
as it appears.

I believe the owner of the boat was/is a guy named Steve Klee.  I haven't
seen him for over thirty-five years.  I have no idea where he might be, of
even if he's alive.

At the time, Jeff was a recovering ex-junkie - he had kicked AFAIK, but was
doing other stuff (not that others weren't!), as the story indicates.  I
don't remember being told exactly what was involved that night; shrooms,
LSD, or something else, but the story was that everyone was tripping in some
manner.

This was a long, long time ago, and I hadn't even thought of it for years.
The subject came up in a casual conversation, and I was told about this
list, and John Schulman's post.  John is my age or a year older - I don't
know if he was still in Chicago when all this happened - we were all a year
or two out of high school.  Anyhow, I really will have to re-tie some
synapses and drag through my memory banks to see if I can come up with any
other details.  Norman Dayron might know - I believe they were still tight
to some extent when all this happened.  They were both U of C students
together; I believe that Dayron was working for Chess when Jeff was fronting
Home Juice.

Maybe Paul Asbell knows - the last I heard he was still playing and living
in rural Vermont or NH someplace, but that was also years ago.  A quick
Google indicates he's still playing and working in New England; his URL is
http://www.paulasbell.com/ .

I believe I now remember the name of Home Juice's bass player - Al McClain
(might be incorrect - it's just a vague memory).  If anyone knows where he
is, he might be able to provide some info.

Really, I don't know if the exact manner of death is important - I hadn't
heard about the sharks, just that he was drowned or lost in the Gulf.  I
don't know what his future would have been but he seemed to be getting his
act together.  It is hard to say, because in the early and mid 70s, the
niche markets that allowed guys like Carp to make a living had not really
developed yet, and it was difficult to sell records.  Butterfield was sort
of a victim of the same thing - the last time I saw him was in Berkley in
the mid-80s with a R & R-type trio band - not so great.  I remember
listening to East-West when it came out and wondering if there was a place
for a Butterfield/Little Walter-style harp player in that sort of music.  In
that sense Butterfield kind of innovated himself out of a job!

Nowadays, guys like Dave Waldman - who is upholding the tradition of Hyde
Park producing great white harp players - can do OK, but would that have
been the case in the late 70s and early 80s when blues was really dying in a
commercial sense?  I dunno.

Carp was great - he also had a sense of propriety.  I remember being at
Peppers one night - I think I was still underage - and listening to Jeff
jamming with some band - I don't remember who.  It must have been a Monday
night.  James Cotton walked in the place.  Jeff just sat down - he wasn't
about to have a battle with the king.  I always thought that showed good
taste.

Anyhow, I'll dig back and see if I can find anyone who might have details.
This is a great list and digging this stuff up is fun for me - I'm not a
musician, just a long-time listener.

Jesse Sinaiko


Message: 11
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 10:28:07 -0600
From: "Mick Zaklan" <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Jeff Carp
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID:
	<88bfaf130803010828q6b0efa52ye881d0a3bc539a17@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

   I originally posted on Jeff's demise back on 7/5/06 (Big Walter and Jeff
Carp film).  Nobody would love to straighten this out and get to the
truth more than myself.  So far we've got Sam Lay, Dick Shurman, Scott Dirks
and Mick Zaklan with one version and John Schulman and Jesse Sinaiko with
another.  If John and Jesse have an eyewitness; it would be great if they
could name the guy and get some more details out of him.  In the interest of
clearing up a long-standing mystery.
   Again, why is this of any importance?  Because Jeff Carp was a highly
intelligent, highly skilled and motivated harpist who; in my opinion, was
poised to be the next big harpist out of Chicago before his untimely death.
Following in the footsteps of Butterfield and Musselwhite.  He wasn't the
kind of guy who was going to stop learning about the instrument and coast on
a few hot riffs.  Just my opinion, but I kind of see him as the Dennis
Gruenling of his day.
   If nothing else, though, this thread shows what a wonderful resource
harp-l is.

Mick Zaklan