Les McCann
American jazz pianist and vocalist (1935–2023)
Leslie Coleman McCann (September 23, 1935 – December 29, 2023) was an American jazz pianist and vocalist. He is known for his innovations in soul jazz and his 1969 recording of the protest song "Compared to What". His music has been widely sampled in hip hop.
Early life
Leslie Coleman McCann was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on September 23, 1935. He grew up in a musical family with four brothers and one sister, most of whom sang in church choirs. His father was a fan of jazz music and his mother was known to hum opera tunes around the house.
As a youth, McCann played the tuba and drums and performed in his school's marching band. As a pianist, he was largely self-taught. He explained that he received piano lessons for only a few weeks as a six-year-old before his teacher died.
McCann attended Los Angeles City College, which was highly influential to his musical career.
The public source identifies “Les McCann” as american jazz pianist and vocalist (1935–2023). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around McCann, American and jazz.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q562912. VIAF identifies the subject as 115382716. The Library of Congress control number is n82013478. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 2023 and 1969.
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This entry incorporates text from “Les McCann” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.