In with the In Crowd

Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America

Mike Smith

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781496851154
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496851161
• Topic: Mezzi di comunicazione e arti performative
• Subtopic: Storia afroamericana

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.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Where’s Nancy?
• Chapter One: Who’s Afraid of Eddie Harris?—Why the Story of Jazz in the Sixties Is Almost Always Misrepresented
• Chapter Two: Serenade to a Soul Sister—Nancy Wilson and the Popular Jazz Divas
• Chapter Three: “The Sidewinder”—The Groove That Launched a Thousand Clones
• Chapter Four: 33s and 45s—The Record Labels That Put the Sounds in the Grooves
• Chapter Five: The “In” Crowd Goes to the Club—Bars, Taverns, Nightclubs, and the Live Scene
• Chapter Six: “When You Go, Let ’Em Know That Daddy-O Told You So”—Black Radio and the DJs That Spread the Sounds
• Chapter Seven: Pulling out All the Stops—Organ Jazz, the Quintessential Sound of Sixties Jazz
• Chapter Eight: Mean Greens, Fried Neckbones, and Home Cookin’ at the Greasy Spoon—Black Cultural Identity and Popular Jazz
• Chapter Nine: “Why Am I Treated So Bad?” … “Compared to What?”—Popular Jazz and Civil Rights
• Chapter Ten: How Did We Forget, Why Did We Forget?—The Revising of the Sixties Jazz Narrative
• Appendix A: 1960s Popular Jazz Listening Guide
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author