“The Hustle” (Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony)

For today’s classic instrumental song of the day we’re sticking with mid-70s disco and “The Hustle,” by Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony. Disco was all the thing back in 1975 when this single was released, which explains why it went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Van McCoy was inspired to write this tune in April of 1975 when his music partner, Charles Kipps, visited the New York nightclub Adam’s Apple and watched the crowd do a new dance called the Hustle. McCoy wrote the tune and assembled a group of heavy hitter New York session musicians to record it. That group included McCoy himself on piano, Richard Tee on keyboards, Eric Gale and John Tropea on guitars, Gordon Edwards on bass, and the legendary Steve Gadd on drums, which explains the track’s infectious beat. Hugo Peretti was the producer, Gene Orloff conducted the orchestra, and Phil Bodner played the prominent flute part.

If you didn’t know, Tee, Gale, Edwards, and Gadd were the backbone of the hip New York band Stuff, so “The Hustle” is kind of sort of a Stuff record, with strings. Gadd’s drumming is unmistakable once you know it’s him playing; nobody else has that same tight-while-loose feel. Once you know who’s playing, the song takes on a different level of importance. Listen to “The Hustle” while you do the Hustle and enjoy New York’s best session players doing their thing.

Van McCoy started out in the music industry in the late 1950s working for Flo Greenburg of Scepter Records as a staff writer and A&R man, then later moving on to work with legendary songwriter/producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Striking out on his own, he wrote songs for Ruby & the Romantics (“When You’re Young and in Love”), Brenda and the Tabulations (“Right on the Tip of My Tongue”), Jackie Wilson (“I Get the Sweetest Feeling”), and Barbara Lewis (“Baby I’m Yours”). He also produced “5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love)” for the Presidents and “Walk Away from Love” for David Ruffin.

Post-“Hustle,” McCoy tried to replicate that track’s success with other disco tunes, but to little avail. He died of a heart attack in 1979, just 39 years old.