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American Songbook

FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Among other things, Martin Colyer is a book designer, the Art Director of Reader's Digest U.K., and a musician (Southwestern Recorders). Last year he produced a collection of singular interpretations of classics from the American Songbook and asked me to do some drawings for the project. Three of those are reproduced here. The songs are great stuff: dance music for the recently exhumed, or something like that. This first one (above) is for Johnny Mercer's "Skylark".
Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles". This version features a bass cello in the mix.
"Come Rain or Come Shine." -A few of these were selected for the Society of Illustrators Show and the CA Illustration Annual. The drawing below is of Sister Rosetta Tarp and Ken Colyer (Martin's uncle) who was a seminal figure in the New Orleans music & American influenced Jazz period in the 50's & 60's in Britain. If this drawing is any good at all , it is due entirely to the wonderful photograph by Terry Cryer which is the source and is better than the sketch.
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