Robert Armstrong (1950)

Robert Armstrong Mickey Rat #2 Back Cover Original Art (Kitchen Sink Press, 1972). While cranking out original Underground Comix stories at a steady pace, Armstrong also collaborated with cartoonist/musicians Robert Crumb and Al Dodge on a handful of 1920s-style recordings, spun off from their live-performance interests. Publisher Denis Kitchen offered a chance to wax a phonograph platter in retro-throwback 78-r.p.m. format. Hence this advertisement for their recording of "River Blues," a remake of 1928's "Ready for the River," by songwriters Neil Moret and Gus Kahn. The popular success of Kitchen's venture led to a Yazoo Records contract for an expanded ensemble -- R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders. Here is where the retro-jazz phenomenon began, inspiring such other artists as Leon Redbone and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. "River Blues" has remained a driving force in Crumb's art-and-music interests: The song reappeared in the 2006 stage production of R. Crumb Comix at Texas' Hip Pocket Theatre, with producer-arranger Michael H. Price and instrumentalists Greg Jackson and Lee Thomas re-creating the sound of the Crumb-Armstrong-Dodge trio. Ink over graphite on Bristol board with an image area of 10" x 15". Excellent condition. From the Denis Kitchen Collection. HID09710052018 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved