SUGGESTIVE SEXY & SEXIST –

Sex sells, if you push push it hard enough. 

Suggestion sold, whether it was in movies, music or fiction. I’ve got plenty of vintage, lurid pulp books with covers depicting women in various poses in various ever-so-slightly see-through negligés. I’ve got plenty of vintage records with illustrations of beautiful women that were supposed to lure soul jazz lovers into buying the finished product in the record shops. Shamelessly sexist covers are rare but there are a few examples which if they were created in the postmodern world could by artist’s intent pass as cultural commentary and/or would raise a fuzz, but back then, were clear-cut marketing tools.

Were men the only buyers of records? History of (black) culture proves that this is surely not completely the case, so imagine a couple or a family walking into a record store or a barber shop or a supermarket and browsing through a bin. Wow, this looks really cool, young Charlie ponders while pulling his father’s trousers legs. What’s with the lock, dad?

Mr. McGriff’s label seriously got down to business. Kenny Clark/Francy Boland’s office took the arty route.

Female buyers were either totally neglected or scared off like mice in the kitchen. I couldn’t resist to show a perennial favorite (joke) among jazz collectors, Herbie pushing the limits of the bearable. And what about avantgardist Albert Ayler? Sassy goatee, man! Yuk. You won’t find Wild Bill Davis in any controversial or ludicrous pose. Nor find any of his labels exploitative. No hesitation to accuse Coral of bad and scary taste, though. If this is supposed to be lust you might as well throw it to the dogs.