Source: Paul Natkin/Getty/Les McCann
The music world has lost a giant before 2023 closes with the death of legendary jazz great Les McCann.
The Hollywood Reporter shared the sad news that Les McCann has died at the age of 88 in the Los Angeles area. McCann's music is no stranger to the Hip-Hop community as some of his songs have been sampled by the late Notorious BIG, legendary producer/rapper Dr. Dre, Mobb Deep and others.
Per The Hollywood Reporter:
The musician, who has released more than 60 albums during his career, had been hospitalized from the nursing unit where he had lived for the past four years and was diagnosed with pneumonia, his manager Alan Abrahams told The Hollywood. Journalist.
In a prolific career, he was arguably best known for his performance at the 1969 Montreaux Jazz Festival of the protest song “Compared to What.”
Hip-hop songs that sampled McCann's work
For those who aren't into credits for their favorite albums, McCann's song “Go On and Cry” was included on the original version of “The Next Episode,” which was supposed to appear on Snoop Dogg's classic album. Doggystyle before landing on Dr. Dre's 2001.
Biggie's “Ten Crack Commandments” from his double disc Life after death is heavily sampled from McCann's “Vallarta.”
Mobb Deep joined McCann duffy when they used his song “Benjamin” to create their track “Right Back At You” from their 1995 album The Infamous.
Other artists who have tried McCann include stoner hip-hop pioneer Massive Attack, Cypress Hill, Slick Rick, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Naughty By Nature.
Born in 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, McCann was a self-taught pianist before dropping out of high school and serving in the US Navy at 17.
In a 2017 interview with Oxford American, McCann said he wanted to “go to the Navy School of Music,” only to find out they didn't have the sousaphone to play.
He would win a Navy talent contest that earned him a Navy appearance The Ed Sullivan Show. After being fired, he formed a band in Los Angeles, landing his first contract with Pacific Jazz in 1960 after Miles Davis heard him play in a nightclub.
McCann also signed with Atlantic Records after being discovered by Roberta Flack.
After a stroke he suffered in the 90s while on stage in Germany, he used a wheelchair, but that didn't stop him from performing.
McCann's life is the true definition of a life well lived.
May he rest in heaven.
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Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty
