This article is taken from lettersofnote.com.
Celebrated Swedish jazz saxophonist Mats Gustafsson sent a copy of his new jazz album to one of his musical idols, Robert Crumb. This album included Gustafsson's new interpretations of some jazz classics by artists like Duke Ellington, Lars Gullin, and the Ayler brothers. He wanted to know Crumb's opinion on his work, but was surprised when Crumb sent back a brutally honest letter about how much he didn't like his fan's musical interpretations. Robert Crumb uses a very insulting tone to get across his point of trying to get Gustafsson to understand that he didn't like how he was playing the classics. But, I think an unintended purpose of Crumb's would be to use this as an opportunity to evaluate himself. At the end, he uses rhetorical questions where he asks himself if he's "too un-hip" or if he's just "a square from Delaware." By just leaving those questions out there, the reader, meaning Mats Gustafsson, is able to hopefully catch on to the fact that Crumb is maybe using this opportunity to adjust himself to a more modern musical world without improvisational music.
While this cruel tone helps him clearly get his point across about his dislike for Gustafsson's modern interpretations, it really just distracts the reader from the what he's honestly trying to say. The observer is just left with feeling bad about a fan being ridiculed horribly by his idol rather than focusing on what he's trying to say, and it prevents the real purpose from being achieved. Crumb says that he can't believe people would pay to watch Gustafsson play, or how shocked he is on how it was such a "negative, unpleasant experience" it was. This title is taken from a note that Crumb wrote on the cover of Gustafsson's CD as an optional album title. He actually wound up using this title and reprinted the letter amongst the liner notes. He used this as a motivation to make better music, and praised Crumb for taking the time to listen to his album.
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