Les McCann - Never A Dull Moment: Live From Coast To Coast 1966-1967
Les McCann - Never A Dull Moment: Live From Coast To Coast 1966-1967
(Resonance Records, 2023)
Who was Les McCann?
That is who.
This funky piece of soul jazz can be found on the recording Swiss Movement (Atlantic Records, 1969) recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival, on June 1, 1969.
“Was” is a key operative as Mr. McCann passed away on December 29, 2023, at the age of 88. One of his last professional acts was providing commentary on Les McCann - Never A Dull Moment: Live From Coast To Coast 1966-1967, released on Resonance Records for Record Store Day Black Friday (November, 24. 2023). The music presented in this 3-CD set is previously unreleased live recordings captured at the Penthouse jazz club in Seattle from January 27 and February 3 & 10, 1966 with Stan Gilbert (bass), Paul Humphrey, and Tony Bazley (drums); and recordings originally by Resonance founder and co-president George Klabin from the Village Vanguard on July 16, 1967, with Leroy Vinnegar (bass) and Frank Severino (drums).
McCann was born into a musical family in Lexington, Kentucky where he played tuba and drums in his high school’s marching band. As a pianist, McCann was mostly self-taught, after having received a few lessons. In 1960, after a stint in the U.S. Navy, McCann moved to California recording with his trio for Pacific Jazz Records. Known mostly as a regional act, that changed in 1969, when McCann and his trio recorded a set with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey at the Montreux Jazz Festival. the album, Swiss Movement, and the single, “Compared To What” jettisoned McCann into stardom.
The present 3 discs are generously populated with McCann performing jazz standards with his clever original compositions sprinkled in. In these performances, McCann cleans up “Blue ‘n’ Boogie” and “Night In Tunisia” tempering the song’s be-bop heat with soulful down home. His original material, “The Grabber” and “The Shampoo” show the pianist’s efforts to alchemically meld jazz with rhythm and blues. McCann was an innovator who worked in the background to further the cause of soul jazz.