Search - Les McCann :: Live at Montreux

OLD SCHOOL SOUL AT ITS BEST!

07/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This one is from the days when activist politics mixed with real, swinging music. Les McCann was truly the "High Priest" of soul jazz and this album is testimony. Unlike the more famous, 69' Montreaux album which included Eddie Harris in classic performances, this 1972 version is without horn, except for a cameo solo by Rahsan Roland Kirk on "Carry On Brother".Nevertheless, this is powerful McCann on vocal and piano. Buy this one!"

"Old School" Soul at its best!

07/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Musical anthropologists would do well to proble deeply into the soul jazz era of the late sixties-early seventies as personified by Les McCann. His work at the old Bohemian Caverns in DC, and his Atlantic records collaborations with Roberta Flack, Eddie Harris, Roland Kirk and others are classic. Listeners will find a combination of real, swinging music and political awareness. Undoubtedly it is the political awareness that frightened away so-called "mainstream" acceptance of this great and powerful music. Eddie Harris is missing on this 1972 Montreaux effort (after the 1969 Montreaux classic session), but the band, and McCann are just as powerful, just as swinging. Invest in this album and contemplate golden days (pre-"rap") when activist politics had dynamic theme music played by real musicians!"