Trained in bebop but comfortably versed in a number of instrumental genres, pianist Ramsey Lewis tossed equal parts traditional jazz, funk, soul, pop, and easy listening into a jigger, shook, and served chilled. The resulting cocktail, fizzy with flavor and blissfully intoxicating, married the traditional bebop sound of his youth with the fast-changing musical landscape of the period. Lewis was lauded for his foresight, and The In Crowd, his very best work, is often seen as the fount of Afro-jazz.