In the early 1960s, they had built a following on the East Coast, in part, says Lewis, by including a “fun song” in every performance. “We had all this serious stuff, Ellington tunes and originals and pieces from the Great American Songbook,” he recalls. “We had to give the audience a fun song, something that wasn’t so serious, and would let them dance and tap their feet and clap along to the beat.”
This was the spirit in which “Something You Got” had been released, in October 1964, on the trio’s album “Live at Bohemian Caverns” — their biggest seller to that point. Soul-infused “funky” jazz was having a moment of popularity. A year before, Mongo Santamaria had reached the top 10 with a cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man.” Then, just after “Something You Got” had faded, Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder” hit so big that it was adapted for TV commercials.
That, combined with the trio’s return booking at the Caverns in May 1965, prompted them to record a follow-up live album there.
They just needed a new, fun song. The morning of the first show — Thursday, May 13 — Lewis, Young and Holt were sitting in a small coffee shop near the Howard Theatre, trying to decide on one. Their waitress heard the conversation, in a moment so life-altering that Lewis (and Holt) still remembers her name 50 years later.
Nettie Gray, our waitress, said, ‘Well, what about “The In Crowd,” by Dobie Gray?’ ” Lewis says. “Redd and Eldee said: ‘Oh, yeah, that’s a good one! I know that!’ I did not. So they put it on the jukebox, and I liked it.”
Gray’s version of “The In Crowd” (written by Billy Page) was a pop-soul production that unapologetically aped the Motown Sound. It was characterized by a strong beat, bright horns and Gray’s smooth shout of the lyric (“I’m in with the in crowd/I go where the in crowd goes”). They quickly worked out and rehearsed an instrumental arrangement.
Even so, they nearly skipped it when playing before the sold-out crowd at Bohemian Caverns that night. They were about to play their blues theme to close out the first set when Holt prodded the pianist. “[I said,] ‘Hey, man! Let’s play “The In Crowd,” Jack! Hook it up!’ ” the drummer recalls.
“We never actually got to the theme that night,” says Lewis. “They wouldn’t let us off the bandstand, ‘The In Crowd’ had gone over so big. They were clapping, hooting and hollering and cheering.”
It’s on the record. From the beginning, the room claps along to Holt and Young’s tight groove, with scattered shouts and whistles. When Lewis’s solo begins, those shouts are everywhere. Each pause in his vamping gives rise to whoops, or calls of “Hey now! Work it, baby!” At one point, spectators simply begin bellowing the name of the song: “ ‘In Crowd!’ ‘In Crowd,’ man!”
“I had such a good time that night,” says Holt.
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