Leslie Coleman McCann (September 23, 1935 – December 29, 2023) was an American jazz pianist and vocalist.[1][full citation needed] He is known for his innovations in
soul jazz and his
1969 recording of the protest song "
Compared to What". His music has been widely sampled in
hip hop.
Early life
Leslie Coleman McCann was born in
Lexington, Kentucky, on September 23, 1935.[2] He grew up in a musical family with four brothers and one sister, most of whom sang in church choirs.[3][4][5] His father was a fan of jazz music and his mother was known to hum opera tunes around the house.[5]
As a youth, McCann played the tuba and drums and performed in his school's marching band.[4][5] As a pianist, he was largely self-taught.[6] He explained that he received piano lessons for only a few weeks as a six-year-old before his teacher died.[4]
During his service in the Navy, McCann won a singing contest, which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.[1] After leaving the Navy, McCann moved to California and played in his own trio.[6] He declined an offer to work in
Cannonball Adderley's band so that he could dedicate himself to his own music.[6] The trio's first job was at the
Purple Onion club in 1959 accompanying
Gene McDaniels.[4]
The main part of McCann's career began in the early 1960s, when he recorded as a pianist with his trio for
Pacific Jazz.[8] In 1969, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, an album recorded with saxophonist
Eddie Harris and trumpeter
Benny Bailey earlier at that year's
Montreux Jazz Festival.[9] The album contained the song "
Compared to What"; both reached the Billboard pop charts. The song, which criticized the
Vietnam War, was written by
Eugene McDaniels years earlier and recorded and released as a ballad by McCann in 1966 on his album, Les McCann Plays the Hits.
Roberta Flack's version appeared as the opening track on her debut album First Take (1969).[10][11]
After the success of Swiss Movement, McCann, primarily a piano player, emphasized his vocals. He became an innovator in
soul jazz, merging jazz with
funk, soul and
world rhythms. His music was influential for its use of
electric piano,
clavinet and synthesizer.[12]
In 1971, McCann and Harris were part of a group of soul, R&B and rock performers–including
Wilson Pickett,
the Staple Singers,
Santana and
Ike & Tina Turner–who flew to
Accra,
Ghana, to perform a 14-hour concert for more than 100,000 Ghanaians. The March 6 concert was recorded for the documentary film Soul to Soul.[13] In 2004, the movie was released on DVD with an accompanying soundtrack album.[14]
McCann had a stroke in the mid-1990s,[8] but he returned to music in 2002, when Pump it Up was released, and continued to release music until 2018.[12] He also exhibited his work as a painter and photographer.[1]
Death
McCann died from pneumonia in a Los Angeles hospital on December 29, 2023, at age 88.[7]
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, except where noted. As Les McCann Ltd is often used in the titles for the albums up to 1964, this has been omitted.