Product Description

Anyone who knows R. Crumb’s work as an illustrator knows of his passion for music. And all those who collect his work prize the Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats, and Pioneers of Country Music trading card sets he created in the early to- mid-1980s. Now they are packaged together for the first time in book form, along with an exclusive 21-track CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself (featuring original recordings by Charley Patton, “Dock” Boggs, “Jelly Roll” Morton, and others). A bio of each musician is provided, along with a full-color original illustration by the cartoonist. A characteristically idiosyncratic tribute by an underground icon to the musical innovators who helped inspire him, R. Crumb’s Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country is a must-have collection for Crumb aficionados, comics fans, and music lovers alike.

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Great Gift        Rating:

Not for all markets though the guys I got this for loved both the art and the music.

great book.        Rating:

I love this book!! I need to order more of Crumbs work. I bought this for a gift but would like one for myself

Good Stuff Cheap        Rating:

Lots of fun. I just pick it up and read a few randomly. I wish the Bio's were a bit more in depth but their length is understandable seeing as they derived from the original Tobacco Card Format. The info lead me to explore the artitists I hadn't been familier with in other formats. See youtube videos on Wingy Mannone, the one armed trumpet player for example.The book itself was worth the cost never mind an additional CD. I bought it with a few others to get free shipping.

One caveat, this is a small book about the size of a Daytimer Journal, so don't expect coffee table size.

R Crumb's labor of love and lightening up on the N word        Rating:

For a guy whose works almost always ended up in some underground collection that drew more from porn than art, Crumb has had some sort of epiphany, somewhere. This collection of portraits and brief info pages on early and obscure musicians of blues, swing and jazz is wonderful stuff. Just enough biographical edit balances against Crumb's monoweight linework illustrations with a few superb variations of style thrown in.

Best, the images are colorful and capture the feel of the musicians more than a standard photograph could have done. In his simple style, Crumb captures some of the spirit of the people in this tome. There's more soul in these lines and paints than any history book could've done better. Darn well done.

The accompanying CD of rare recordings features what must be the first ever version of Canned Heat's rock classic ON THE ROAD AGAIN as a light-hearted "cheatin' man" set of lyrics that include the infamous N word. We get so intimidated by being politically correct and yet, a dirty old delta blues platter doesn't burst into flames and pretty much helps liberate what was, and ought to be classified as, out-of-use insider-slang used within one culture and not intended beyond those gates. not hanging up on that one note, the point is that these are rare, dated, regional gems that might've died had they not been placed inside this book. Whether you like blues (yes) or hate country bluegrass or boogie, or melt at a rare jazz platter, here's a wonderful Mason jar full of preserves that are fading from this planet but still sound great but with the added haunt of all of them being long, long dead. If Crumb's trying to turn his creepy kharma, he's doing it well.

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