R.I.P. Les McCann

Pioneer jazz pianist Le McCann has died age 88...

From The Hollywood Reporter 

Soulful jazz great Les McCann, whose work was sampled by hundreds of hip-hop artists including Notorious B.I.G. and Dr. Dre, died Friday in the Los Angeles area. He was 88.

The musician, who released more than 60 albums over the course of his career, had been admitted to a local hospital from the nursing care facility he’d lived in for the past four years and was diagnosed with pneumonia, his manager Alan Abrahams told The Hollywood Reporter.

Despite his prolific career, he was arguably best known for his 1969 Montreaux Jazz Festival performance of protest song “Compared to What.”

McCann joined forces with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey. The three hadn’t played together before and there wasn’t time for rehearsal, according to The New York Times.

The outlet cites the liner notes for a reissue of the concert album, the Grammy-nominated Swiss Movement, in which McCann writes, “Just before we went onstage, and for the first time in my life, I smoked some hash. … [Onstage] I didn’t know where the hell I was. I was totally disoriented. The other guys said, ‘OK, play, man!’ Somehow I got myself together, and after that, everything just took off.”