In with the In Crowd
In with the In Crowd
Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America
Most studies of 1960s jazz underscore the sounds of famous avant-garde musicians like John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Albert Ayler. Conspicuously absent from these narratives are the more popular jazz artists of the decade that electrified dance clubs, permeated radio waves, and released top-selling records. Names like Eddie Harris, Nancy Wilson, Ramsey Lewis, and Jimmy Smith are largely neglected in most serious work today. Mike Smith rectifies this oversight and explores why critical writings have generally cast off best-selling 1960s jazz as unworthy of in-depth analysis and reverent documentation.
The 1960s were a time of monumental political and social shifts. Avant-garde jazz, made by musicians indifferent to public perception aligns well with widely held images of the era. In with the In Crowd: Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America argues that this dominant, and unfortunately distorted, view negates and ignores a vibrant jazz community. These musicians and their listeners created a music defined by socialization, celebration, and Black pride.
Smith tells the joyful story of the musicians, the radio DJs, the record labels, and the live venues where jazz not only survived but thrived in the 1960s. This was the music of everyday people, who viewed jazz as an important part of their cultural identity as Black Americans. In an era marked by turmoil and struggle, popular jazz offered a powerful outlet for joy, resilience, pride, and triumph.
Smith will open a lot of eyes to an entire subgenre of ‘soul jazz’ that just got lost in the shuffle, especially when Motown was king. But no matter how much jazz a listener has lived with over a lifetime long or short, every reader can learn a lot from In with the In Crowd.
Jazz was popular music in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and well into the 1960s. But with a few exceptions, like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington, the artists whose work was most popular are not the same artists who are most revered and written about today. That’s why the new book In With The In Crowd: Popular Jazz In 1960s Black America is such a vital contribution to jazz history and critical discourse.
With energy and zeal, In with the In Crowd goes a long way toward correcting and completing the written history of jazz from the mid-twentieth century.
Mike Smith’s In with the In Crowd addresses the fascinating—and puzzling—near-absence of popular jazz artists from conventional histories of jazz. Underlying the entire work is a deep familiarity with and profound love of these artists and their music, and a desire to correct and expand the familiar historical narrative.
Mike Smith has been a performer, writer, arranger, and educator for more than forty years. He is coordinator of Jazz Studies at The Ohio State University, where he conducts the jazz ensemble, jazz fusion combo, and teaches jazz styles and jazz pedagogy classes.
