Les McCann, oft-sampled soul-jazz pioneer, dead at 88

[2naSalit]

Les McCann, oft-sampled soul-jazz pioneer, dead at 88

Les McCann stood only 5 foot 7, but he was a towering figure when he sang and played piano. The rousing brand of soul-jazz he helped pioneer in the 1950s and '60s inspired several generations of musicians, from Bonnie Raitt and Bill Withers to such hip-hop stars as The Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, who sampled McCann's music on their own records.

"If it's done from the heart, people feel it," McCann said in a 1986 San Diego Union interview.

He died Friday at a Los Angeles hospital after developing pneumonia about one week ago, but his passing was only disclosed Monday by Alan Abrahams, his longtime manager.

No specific cause has been cited for the death of the 88-year-old musician, who continued performing for more than two decades after suffering a mid-concert stroke in Germany in January 1995 that partially paralyzed the right side of his body.

More at link https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/other/appreciation-les-mccann-oft-sampled-soul-jazz-pioneer-dead-at-88-i-had-a-feeling-that-i-could-do-anything/ar-AA1mn4TX

My intro to the man's talents...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. Didn't know he was still around

RIP

[2naSalit]

2. Neither did I.

I think Eddie Harris passed just a few years ago if that. I could be wrong about that.

[DFW]

3. I had the privilege to see and meet him in Boston in the 1970s.

Not only a master performer and brilliant musician, but a prince of a guy to boot.

[k55f5r]

4. Fan since '71.

I remember driving around with friends in a tricked out van drinking cold duck from the bottle and cranking this 8 track to the max.

[Duncanpup]

5. Such a awesome talent

[ancianita]

6. Sad news. I knew about him through my dad, a jazz drummer back in the day. Loved his '66 hit.

More from WaPo:

The song did not catch on until Mr. McCann decided to use it as his opening number during an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on June 21, 1969. He and his trio — bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Donald Dean — were joined by Eddie Harris on tenor saxophone and Benny Bailey on trumpet.

There was no time for a rehearsal, and the horn players had never played with Mr. McCann before, but the resulting eight minutes of music became something of a happy accident of jazz.

Mr. McCann charged into “Compared to What,” pounding out a powerful rhythmic figure on piano as Dean kept pace on drums. Ripples of applause welled from the audience as Mr. McCann began to sing the mildly profane lyrics, which touched on sensitive social issues and were an undisguised indictment of the government and religion:
The President, he’s got his war
Folks don’t know just what it’s for
Nobody gives us rhyme or reason
Have one doubt, they call it treason
We’re chicken-feathers, all without one nut. God d--- it!
Tryin’ to make it real, compared to what?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/02/les-mccann-jazz-pianist-dead-compared-to-what/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

[2naSalit]

7. That song...

Hit me like a tons of bricks, heard on the legendary WBCN in Boston, I lived less than an hour from the city so that was my radio station and I thank them for exposing me to the wide world of music beyond what I already knew. This is one of the gems they gave me.

It updated jazz in my mind and showed that I was not wrong about improvisation. It was a milestone for me in my teens, rocked my world so to speak.