The Jazz Organ Scene

USA

picture by Clemens Pfeiffer, Wien

Les McCann Les (*1935) is a jazz pianist very much influenced by gospel and blues. His main career began in the early 1960s when he recorded as a pianist with his trio for Pacific Jazz. In 1969, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, 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.   After the success of Swiss Movement, Les, primarily a piano player, emphasized his vocals. He became an innovator in soul jazz, merging jazz with funk, soul, and world rhythms. He was among the first jazz musicians to include electric piano, clavinet, and synthesizer in his music.   In 1971, he and Harris were part of a group of soul, R&B, and rock performers - including Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, Santana and Ike & Tina Turner - who flew to Accra, Ghana to perform a 14-hour concert for over 100,000 Ghanaians. The 6th March concert was recorded for the documentary film Soul to Soul. In 2004 the movie was released on DVD with an accompanying soundtrack album. In 1975, he toured with Klaus Doldinger's Passport (can be heard on Doldinger Jubilee '75).   Les had a stroke in the mid-1990s, but he returned to music in 2002 when Pump It Up was released. He has also exhibited his work as a painter and photographer.   from Wikipedia

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