Source:
Paul
Natkin
/
Getty
/
Les
McCann
The
music
world
lost
a
giant
before
2023
came
to
a
close
with
the
passing
of
soulful
Jazz
great
Les
McCann.
The
Hollywood
Reporter
shared
the
sad
news
that
Les
McCann
passed
away
at
88
in
the
Los
Angeles
area.
McCann’s
music
is
no
stranger
to
the
Hip-Hop
community,
as
some
of
his
songs
were
used
as
samples
of
the
late
Notorious
B.I.G.,
legendary
producer/rapper
Dr.
Dre,
Mobb
Deep,
and
more.
Per
The
Hollywood
Reporter:
The
musician,
who
released
more
than
60
albums
over
the
course
of
his
career,
had
been
admitted
to
a
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.
In
a
prolific
career,
he
was
arguably
best
known
for
his
1969
Montreaux
Jazz
Festival
performance
of
the
protest
song
“Compared
to
What.”
Hip-Hop
Songs
That
Sampled
McCann’s
Work
For
those
who
don’t
fancy
the
credits
for
their
favorite
albums,
McCann’s
song
“Go
On
and
Cry”
was
sampled
in
the
original
version
of
“The
Next
Episode,”
which
was
supposed
to
be
featured
on
Snoop
Dogg’s
classic
album
Doggystyle
before
it
landed
on
Dr.
Dre’s
2001.
Biggie’s
“Ten
Crack
Commandments”
off
his
double-disc
Life
After
Death
is
heavily
sampled
from
McCann’s
“Vallarta.”
Mobb
Deep
went
into
the
McCann
duffy
when
they
used
his
song
“Benjamin”
to
craft
their
track
“Right
Back
At
You”
off
their
a1995
album
The
Infamous.
Other
artists
who
sampled
McCann
include
stoner
hip-hop
pioneer
Massive
Attack,
Cypress
Hill,
Slick
Rick,
A
Tribe
Called
Quest,
De
La
Soul,
and
Naughty
By
Nature.
McCann
was
born
in
1935
in
Lexington,
Kentucky,
and
was
a
self-taught
pianist
before
picking
up
the
sousaphone
in
high
school
and
serving
in
the
U.S.
Navy
at
17.
In
a
2017
interview
with
the
Oxford
American,
McCann
said
he
wanted
to
“go
to
the
Navy
School
of
Music,”
only
to
learn
they
did
not
have
the
sousaphone
to
play.
He
would
go
on
to
win
a
talent
contest
in
the
Navy
that
landed
him
an
appearance
on
the
Ed
Sullivan
Show.
After
being
discharged,
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
Roberta
Flack
discovered
him.
After
suffering
a
stroke
in
the
90s
while
on
stage
in
Germany,
he
used
a
wheelchair,
but
that
didn’t
keep
him
from
performing.
McCann’s
life
is
the
true
definition
of
a
life
well
lived.
May
he
rest
in
paradise.
—
Photo:
Paul
Natkin
/
Getty
