Les McCann

Pianist Les McCann departed Gene McDaniels' services in 1959 and thereafter expanded beyond hard bop foundations by weaving his characteristic groove-oriented rhythms through soul-jazz, gospel, R&B, and funk. His skills further encompassed an earthy, gravelly singing voice that conveyed deep feeling. Beginning with the 1960 release The Truth, he produced numerous albums for Pacific Jazz. In 1968 he joined Atlantic, and the following year he captured the live Swiss Movement alongside saxophonist Eddie Harris, yielding signature readings of "Compared to What?" and "Cold Duck Time." His Atlantic period, extending through 1976, yielded multiple popular recordings plus two successive, now-influential electric jazz-funk statements: 1973's Invitation to Openness and 1974's Layers. Later he issued successful albums on ABC Impulse and A&M, among them 1978's The Man, before moving to independent labels. A 1995 stroke left him partially paralyzed, yet he resumed recording, delivering the star-studded Pump It Up in 2002 and A Time Les Christmas in 2018. Resonance Records issued the archival, multi-disc Never a Dull Moment! Live from Coast to Coast 1966-1967 in 2023.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1935, McCann grew up with a brother and three sisters who all performed vocally in church. His father followed jazz closely while his mother enjoyed humming opera arias. Piano lessons began at age six, yet his instructor died after only a few weeks; McCann therefore taught himself at the keyboard while receiving structured musical instruction throughout elementary and high school, where he played tuba in the marching band and drums in the orchestra.

During naval service he won a singing contest that earned him a 1956 appearance on the nationally syndicated Ed Sullivan Show. Following an honorable discharge he relocated to Los Angeles and assembled a trio. He declined an offer to join the Cannonball Adderley Quintet so he could concentrate on his own projects. The trio's debut engagement took place at the Purple Onion in 1959, backing Gene McDaniels, who then engaged the group for his tour. After parting from McDaniels, McCann secured a solo contract with Pacific Jazz. In 1960 Les McCann Ltd. Plays the Truth and The Shout appeared. His soulful, funk-inflected piano approach shaped emerging players, resonated with established musicians, and drew enthusiastic live audiences.

Between 1960 and 1967 he recorded a dozen albums for Pacific Jazz, among them Les McCann Ltd. in New York with Blue Note artists Stanley Turrentine and Blue Mitchell, and Les McCann Sings with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Although the latter appeared in 1961, McCann sang only sporadically in performance and on record until mid-decade. During the Pacific Jazz years he also released collaborative albums with the Jazz Crusaders, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and additional partners. The 1963 album Plays the Shampoo at the Village Gate produced a number-three single with its title track. Even though pianist Ramsey Lewis had already begun recording, McCann's 1963 release influenced Lewis's mid-1960s live albums such as The In Crowd and Dancing in the Street.

McCann moved to Limelight during 1965-1967 en route to Atlantic in 1968. His label debut, Swiss Movement, was recorded with saxophonist Eddie Harris at the Montreux Jazz Festival; the pair had not rehearsed beforehand and Harris had not yet examined the charts. The album became a major success, driven partly by McCann's vocals on their version of McDaniels' "Compared to What?"—his signature piece—and by Harris's contribution of the deeply funky "Cold Duck Time." It received international airplay and charted successfully. A second volume, Second Movement, appeared in 1971 to strong critical response yet modest sales.

Although some jazz reviewers believed McCann prioritized singing over instrumental interplay, audiences embraced the recordings, and later assessments confirmed the merit of releases such as 1971's Comment and 1972's Talk to the People. Producer Joel Dorn encouraged McCann's vocal work as well as his adoption of electric piano and analog synthesizers. For 1973's Invitation to Openness, McCann and Dorn assembled a thirteen-piece ensemble featuring Yusef Lateef, guitarists Cornell Dupree and David Spinozza, and five percussionists and drummers that included Alphonse Mouzon, William "Buck" Clarke, Ralph McDonald, and Bernard Purdie; bassist Jimmy Rowser and drummer-percussionist Donald Dean also participated. McCann performed on electric piano and synthesizer while conducting three largely improvised, vamp-and-groove-driven jazz-funk pieces—including the side-long "The Lovers"—without charts or explicit directions. The results aligned with early electric statements by Miles Davis (In a Silent Way, Jack Johnson, Bitches Brew) and Weather Report (I Sing the Body Electric).

He followed with the even more radical Layers in 1973. Retaining his trio plus McDonald and Clarke from the previous project, Layers demonstrated McCann's affinity for the ARP synthesizer, which he played alongside piano and electric piano in an effort to emulate orchestral textures through string, reed, and wind sounds, while the rhythm section maintained an airy yet gritty jazz-funk pulse. Both Invitation to Openness and Layers later attracted new generations of listeners, especially within electronic music and hip-hop circles.

Live at Montreux closed out 1973 with Clarke completing the quartet, after which McCann fulfilled his Atlantic contract with three richly arranged, elegantly orchestrated progressive-soul albums that remain underappreciated: 1974's Another Beginning, 1975's Hustle to Survive, and 1976's River High, River Low.

Following his Atlantic tenure McCann maintained an international touring schedule yet recorded less frequently. Music Lets Me Be and Change, Change, Change: Live at the Roxy both appeared on ABC Impulse in 1977, by which time he had signed with A&M. Les McCann The Man was released in 1978. Motown producer-arranger Paul Riser attempted to overlay McCann's funky rhythms with smooth horns and soft strings in hopes of achieving commercial dance appeal, but the results did not translate. The next year producers Benny Golson and Bobby Martin brought McCann into an L.A. studio with an extensive roster of session players aiming to position him as a disco artist; the effort likewise failed to succeed, consistent with McCann's independent character.

McCann continued touring but did not record again until issuing The Longer You Wait and Music Box on Jam Records in the mid-1980s. He collaborated with saxophonist Houston Person for CTI in 1984, employing only acoustic piano on that date. Between 1988 and 1990 he released three albums on separate labels, then surprised observers with 1994's On the Soul Side for MusicMasters, a set of jazz instrumentals featuring saxophonist Keith Anderson, trumpeter Jeff Elliott, bassist Abraham Laboriel, and drummer Tony St. James; the sole vocal was a medley of "Lift Every Voice and Sing/America the Beautiful" with Lou Rawls, and the album garnered uniformly favorable notices.

A debilitating stroke struck McCann in 1995, yet he refused to be deterred. Although his piano technique was severely impaired, his singing voice remained intact. Once recovered sufficiently he recorded Listen Up! with an all-star ensemble including pianist George Duke, saxophonists Ernie Watts and Anderson, guitarists David T. Walker and Dori Caymmi, organist Billy Preston, and steel drummer Andy Narell, among others; McCann sang on only two tracks, but the release was well received for the ensemble's strong performances.

McCann resumed a busy schedule in 1996, performing in jazz venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, frequently with a second keyboardist. In 1997 he released the collaborative Pacifique with European keyboardist Joja Wendt, a collection of duets in which McCann comps on Fender Rhodes beneath his gravelly voice while Wendt supplies acoustic piano; the repertoire includes remakes of earlier McCann favorites such as his reading of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On," plus "With These Hands" and "Cold Duck Time" (dedicated to Eddie Harris), together with barrelhouse treatments of the spirituals "Amazing Grace" and "Prince of Peace" and the standard "What a Wonderful World." Critics largely praised Pacifique.

McCann again lived on the road with pickup bands, dividing time among Europe, Asia, and, to a lesser extent, the United States. In 2002 he surprised listeners with Pump It Up, a guest-filled celebration of funk and jazz issued on ESC Records featuring Anderson, organist Ricky Peterson, bassist Marcus Miller, vocalist Dianne Reeves, drummer Paulinho Da Costa, vocalist Bonnie Raitt, saxophonist Maceo Parker, and others; McCann did not play piano but sang and rapped, spotlighting a new vocal overdub on the original piano-trio recording of "The Truth" from his Pacific Jazz debut. He self-released A Time Les Christmas in 2018.

In 2012 McCann encountered jazz pianist Joe Alterman onstage at New York's Blue Note; despite an age gap exceeding half a century they became lasting friends who spoke nearly every day thereafter. In August 2023 Alterman issued Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe, comprising ten McCann originals plus "Don't Forget to Love Yourself," co-written by the pair.

That December producer Zev Feldman, in association with Resonance Records, released Never a Dull Moment! Live from Coast to Coast 1966-1967, documenting McCann's mid-1960s trios at Seattle's Penthouse and the Village Vanguard. Les McCann died of pneumonia on December 29, 2023, at age 88.