Since mid-July, Jimmy Herring has been on a tear with his latest project, Jimmy Herring and The Invisible Whip. The band is composed of Herring’s former Aquarium Rescue Unit bandmate, drummer Jeff Sipe, in addition to Jason Crosby on Wurlitzer and Rhodes, Kevin Scott on bass, and Matt Slocum on B3 Organ and clavinet. Making use of his newfound availability during Widespread Panic’s current touring lull this year, the exceptional guitarist’s new ensemble has a heavy touring schedule spanning through to December, with the act join forces with John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension for a late fall tour dubbed Meeting of the Spirits in November.
EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Herring Talks New Band, This Year’s Losses, And The Unknown Future Of Panic
As Herring has previously noted in an interview with Live For Live Music, The Invisible Whip is focused on pulling from Herring’s work on previous records as well as new material and covers of well-loved artists by the band. Eschewing traditional genre classifications, he noted, “This thing is leaning towards — well, I don’t want to call it jazz. It’s definitely going to have elements of jazz, more so than the other bands that I typically will play in, just because there’s no vocals. And all of us as musicians love jazz, so there’s going to be some leanings towards that. It’ll still be rock though. It’s instrumental, so I guess that’s what its going to be. Instrumental, blues, rock, jazz, funk, American roots music with improvisation leaning toward the unknown.”
Recently, the band released a new video via its Facebook of a live cover of Miles Davis’s “Black Satin” off his 1972 record, On The Corner. In the video, The Invisible Whip is joined by Ranjit Barot from John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension on drums, previewing what may be in store for audiences when the two acts meet up later in the fall for their joint tour. You can check out the video shot by Dillon Fries below.
[Photo: Christian Stewart]