Jazz great Les McCann has died in Los Angeles at age 88.
McCann was recognised as the innovator of Jazz Soul. The 1969 album ‘Swiss Movement’, recorded in 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland with Eddie Harris and Benny Bailey is cited as one of the great jazz albums of all-time, selling over one million copies and generating the hit song ‘Compared to What’.
‘Compared to What’ was a protest song written by Gene McDaniels against the Vietnam War on President Lyndon B. Johnson. Its lyrics resonated with young America “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”.
In 1969, McCann was managing the then unknown singer Roberta Flack and included the song on her debut album ‘First Take’.
More recently, rappers loved to use the sounds of McCann. His music was sampled by The Notorious B.I.G. (10 Crack Commandments), Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre (The Next Episode) and A Tribe Called Quest (After Hours).
Mary J. Blige, De La Soul, Cypress Hill, Sean Combs and Nas have also sampled his music.
Les McCann died from pneumonia at a hospital in Los Angeles on 29 December 2023.
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