The Album Covers of Les Baxter and Martin Denny

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Sophisticated women with primitive passions. Or primitive women with sophisticated passions. Either way, what more do you need?

About Blowhard, Esq.

Amateur, dilettante, wannabe.
This entry was posted in Art, Music and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to The Album Covers of Les Baxter and Martin Denny

  1. JV says:
    June 22, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    This stuff, including Arthur Lyman, went through a big revival in the 90s, it was played at many a hipster party. I also used it almost exclusively as the soundtrack for a jungle boat art car some friends and I built for Burning Man some years back. Fun stuff, the music and the imagery.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. JV says:
    June 22, 2016 at 5:47 pm

    It’s also a good jumping off point on a discussion of cultural appropriation and exoticism and whatnot. This music is nothing if not that, which is fine by me. But of course, many people get perturbed at the very idea of white people using bits and pieces of a different culture, even as those other cultures borrow heavily from American/European culture in coming up with their own new stuff. There’s rock n roll, of course, everyone from the Japanese (boy do they have some interesting takes on it) to the incredibly awesome highlife scene in Africa “culturally appropriates” both the white and black aspects of it, to the objections of exactly no one. It’s all interesting to me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Blowhard, Esq. says:
      June 22, 2016 at 8:39 pm

      “But of course, many people get perturbed at the very idea of white people using bits and pieces of a different culture…”

      Yes, I am aware of those people. I refer to them as “fucking know-nothing morons.”

      Like

      Reply
    • Blowhard, Esq. says:
      June 22, 2016 at 8:43 pm

      Your comment reminds me that I should get back to work on my post about 19th-century American minstrelsy. I think it’s impossible to study the roots of American music — country, blues, and folk — and come away thinking there’s a rigid line between white and black culture. It explodes the whole stupid notion of cultural appropriation.

      Like

      Reply
      • JV says:
        June 23, 2016 at 3:40 pm

        Totally agree and look forward to reading what you come up with. Culture is a messy thing with no clear lines of demarcation, particularly in America.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. plwinkler says:
    June 24, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    Some nice music on those discs, too. I have the LP of Ritual of the Savage and a couple of Baxter’s soundtrack albums; he was the house composer for American International Pictures.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Fabrizio del Wrongo says:
    June 24, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    Excellent stuff

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Kevin O'Keeffe says:
    June 24, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    Two questions: Who is that woman on the cover of those Martin Denny albums?

    And why did we never get married?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Will S. says:
    June 25, 2016 at 4:12 am

    Reblogged this on Will S.' Sunny Side Blog and commented:
    Marvellous!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment