Les McCann, Soul Jazz Pianist and Singer, Dies at 88

Les McCann, a pianist and vocalist who helped popularize the soul jazz genre and whose music was sampled in hip-hop songs by artists like A Tribe Called Quest and Dr. Dre, has died, The New York Times reports, citing his longtime manager Alan Abrahams. After being admitted to a Los Angeles hospital with pneumonia last week, McCann died on Friday (December 29). He was 88.

McCann’s initial fame arrived early on for his work as a pianist and singer in his own jazz trio. His breakout moment as a live performer also catapulted what remains to this day to be his biggest hit: the moving protest song “Compared to What.” He debuted the song at the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Though it was his first-ever festival appearance, McCann played things fast and loose, suggesting tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey join his trio for an unscheduled performance. Luckily, it was recorded and filmed for broadcast, and despite neither having ever played with McCann before that moment, their onstage rapport resulted in a set so contagious and jovial that “Compared to What” reached No. 35 on the Billboard R&B chart.

“Just before we went onstage, and for the first time in my life, I smoked some hash,” McCann recalled in the liner notes for a 1996 reissue of the concert album Swiss Movement. “I didn’t know where the hell I was [once I got to the bandstand]. I was totally disoriented. The other guys said, ‘OK, play, man!’ Somehow I got myself together, and after that, everything just took off.”

A bluesy, pleasant touch was added to nearly everything McCann played, especially when he began progressing from more traditional piano toward his now well-known soul jazz sound. Come the 1970s, McCann started including electronic music in his recordings—making him one of the first jazz artists to do so. On 1971’s Invitation to Openness and 1972’s Layers, in particular, he explored how keyboards and synthesizers could propel his songs further, embracing a futuristic and mysterious sound. Adding to the dazzling effect was the fact that McCann was known to encourage audience participation in singing along to his songs, lyrics or no lyrics.

The lasting influence of McCann was apparent in real time, but especially in the 1990s and 2000s when countless artists began sampling his songs in their own music. While bands like Massive Attack, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and H2O included portions of his tracks in their own, McCann’s pulse imprinted most effortlessly and noticeably on the hip-hop scene. A Tribe Called Quest, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, the Notorious B.I.G., De La Soul, Nas, and Cypress Hill all sampled his music, as did Mary J. Blige, Pharcyde, Eric B. & Rakim, Mobb Deep, Gang Starr, and Raekwon. When not sampled outright, McCann was still referenced in pop culture, with acts like Beastie Boys and Steely Dan namedropping him in their lyrics.

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