Les McCann Dies: Legendary Jazz Pianist & Singer Was 88

Les McCann, acclaimed jazz pianist and vocalist whose greatest commercial success came with the 1969 song “Compared to What”, from his album Swiss Movement, criticizing the Vietnam War, has died. His longtime manager Alan Abrahams confirmed to multiple media outlets that McCann died Friday at a hospital in Los Angeles where he had been admitted with pneumonia. He was 88.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, McCann grew up in a musical family of four. Largely self-taught as a pianist, McCann won a singing contest during his service in the U.S. Navy, which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. After moving to California with his own trio, he turned down an offer to join Cannonball Adderley’s band so that he could dedicate himself to his own music.

McCann’s career began to take off when he recorded as a pianist with his trio for Pacific Jazz Records. His album Swiss Movement recorded with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey, contained the single “Compared to What,” critical of the Vietnam War as well as the single “Cold Duck Time.” McCann released the album at the 1969 Montreaux Jazz Festival. Both the album and “Compared to What” single reached the Billboard pop charts. Composed by Eugene McDaniels, McCann released the song as a ballad on his album Les McCann Plays the Hits. Roberta Flack also covered the song, which was the opening track on her debut album First Take in 1969.

McCann later became one of the innovators of soul jazz, which merged jazz with funk, soul and world rhythms. He also was one of the first jazz musicians to include electric piano, clavinet and synthesizer in his music.

McCann was with Atlantic Records until 1976, during which time he recorded 1973’s Invitation to Openness and 1974’s Layers. He later recorded successful albums for ABC Impulse and A&M, including 1978’s The Man, and then recorded on indies, according to his bio.

He suffered a stroke in 1995 that left him partially paralyzed but he began recording again, with Pump It Up in 2002 and A Time Les Christmas in 2018. In 2023, Resonance Records released the archival, multi-disc Never a Dull Moment! Live from Coast to Coast 1966-1967, according to his bio.

In 1975, McCann became the first artist in residence at Harvard University’s Learning From Performers program. Also an artist and prolific photographer of Black culture, his work was collected in the 2015 book Invitation to Openness: The Jazz & Soul Photography of Les McCann 1960-1980.

McCann was asked in an interview for the book’s preface how he had achieved intimacy with his photographic subjects. “I trust my intuition, you see,” he said, adding, “I’m better off when I just do what I do on the piano: play.”