Happy 88 🎂🎉 to the great Les McCann 🎹. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, as a pianist McCann was largely self-taught. He explained he only received piano lessons for a few weeks as a six-year-old before his teacher died. During his service in the U.S. Navy, McCann won a singing contest which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. After leaving the Navy, McCann moved to California and formed his own trio. Miles Davis recommended him to work in Cannonball Adderley's band, but he declined so t

Remembering #LesMcCann on his birthday. In 1969, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, an 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 Pla