Les McCann, acclaimed jazz pianist and vocalist whose greatest commercial success came with the 1969 song “Compared to What”, from his album Swiss Movement, criticizing the Vietnam War, has died. His longtime manager Alan Abrahams confirmed to multiple media outlets that McCann died Friday at a hospital in Los Angeles where he had been admitted with pneumonia. He was 88.
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, McCann grew up in a musical family of four. Largely self-taught as a pianist, McCann won a singing contest during his service in the U.S. Navy, which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. After moving to California with his own trio, he turned down an offer to join Cannonball Adderley’s band so that he could dedicate himself to his own music.
