Les Is More

Performer: Les McCann
Artist: Roberta Flack; Joe Sample; Cannonball Adderley; Carmen McRae; Stanley Turrentine
Producer: Joel Dorn
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Les McCann (vocals, piano, electric piano); Roberta Flack (vocals, piano); Carmen McCrae (vocals); Cannonball Adderley, Gerald Albright (alto saxophone); Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Harris (tenor saxophone); Nat Adderley (cornet). Joel Dorn's short-lived Night Music label featured private tapes of some of his favorite jazz artists. Pianist/vocalist Les McCann had collected 500 mostly undated private tapes through the years (the dates listed above are estimates) and this CD is drawn from that archive. McCann and his 1967 trio perform the groove tune "Maleah" and "With These Hands" (the latter has McCann's vocal) while "Samia" reunites the pianist with Eddie Harris. There are also a few numbers without McCann. One features singer Roberta Flack (a few months before cutting her first record for Atlantic) and there is an odd collage of L.A. appearances by such artists as Cannonball Adderley, Stanley Turrentine and Carmen McRae but unfortunately those are just excerpts. "Clapformation" features an excellent R&B alto solo by Gerald Albright from very early in his career and there is also a later version of McCann's hit "Compared to What." Very much a mixed bag, this CD (which is far from essential) is a historical curiosity at best. ~ Scott Yanow

JazzTimes (6/91) - "...includes selections from tapes he has made of himself and of other performers. His pleasant, occasionally powerful, piano playing is at its best here..."

Les McCann is a soul-jazz pianist and vocalist with a compelling gospel-tinged sound. He fronted a trio throughout the bulk of the '60s, and his soulful funk stylings were well-suited to the time, when such groups were at their peak. Later in the decade, he hooked up with saxophonist Eddie Harris and recorded their very popular album, SWISS MOVEMENT, which yielded two relative hits in "Compared To What" and "Cold Duck Time."

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