Les McCann Trio with Eddie Harris & Jimmy Owens - July 10, 1988 - World Of Jazz

Leslie Coleman McCann (born September 23, 1935) is an American jazz pianist and vocalist. Winning a Navy singing contest led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. McCann’s main career began in the early 1960s when he recorded as a pianist with his trio for Pacific Jazz. In 1969, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, album recorded with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey at that year’s Montreux Jazz Festival. The album contained the song “Compared to What“, and both the album and the single reached the Billboard pop charts. “Compared to What“ criticized the Vietnam War. The song was written by Eugene McDaniels years earlier and recorded and released as a ballad by McCann in 1966 on his album Les McCann Plays the Hits. Roberta Flack’s version appeared as the opening track on her debut album First Take (1969). After the success of Swiss Movement, McCann, primarily a piano player, emphasized his vocals. He became an innovator in soul jazz, merging