The great jazz pianist and vocalist Les McCann passed away last week at the age of 88, and left a lifetime legacy of music: an innovator who blended jazz with soul and world rhythms, and released over 60 albums over his 60-plus year career. His song "Compared To What," protesting the war in Vietnam, reached the top of the charts in mid-1960s. His influence was so wide that his work has been sampled by such musicians as Cypress Hill, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre and dozens more. Our choice today is a live recording from 1967 at the Village Vanguard in New York City, McCann's instrumental interpretation of Cole Porter's "I Am In Love."
