Herbie Mann – Push Push album art

Contributed by Ryan Brotherston

Herbie Mann (1930–2003) was an American jazz flautist, and among the earliest musicians to tap into what would later become known as the world music genre with his bossa nova and Latin-styled playing.

Push Push was Mann’s 56th LP as leader in the span of just over fifteen years; released on his own Atlantic Records imprint, Embryo Records, on July 1, 1971. It featured notable contributions from the likes of Duane Allman on guitar, Chuck Rainey on bass, and Bernard Purdie on drums.

Its cover features a photograph by Joel Brodsky of the shirtless (and possibly more?) Mann clutching his flute over his shoulder, against a dark background; his name and the album's title, set in burnt-orange Davison Bimbo Solid, positioned in the upper left corner. The second “Push” is die-cut, and upon opening the gatefold on the original release one would come to find the pattern visible through the cut-out was, in full, a duotone reproduction of two lovers engaged in missionary sex. Inside the cover, the album’s title would be rendered in boustrophedon, with the bottom line vertically flipped. Liner notes and supplemental text in Zapf's Optima.

Subsequent releases would do away with the die-cut form, restoring the counters on the second “Push”.

This use would inspire a digital typeface known as Herbie Mann (GautFonts, 2020?), which is an extrapolation of the existing type into a full character set.

[More info on Discogs]

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

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