Les was born in Lexington Kentucky on September 23, 1935. In his youth he worked at the Lyric Theatre taking tickets, cleaning, up, seating people and more. According to the Herald Leader on Oct 17, 2013, Les said of his time at the Lyric “That’s when I first got hooked on the music. I saw Dizzy Gillespie there and artists like Wynonie Harris and Tiny Bradshaw. I saw a lot of the black chitlin’ circuit bands. Back then, that was the only place in town for that music."
Les is a self- taught pianist. Unless you count the four piano lessons he took as youngster from one of the nice neighborhood ladies. In the 1950s, McCann left Lexington and joined the Navy. While stationed in California, he took every opportunity to visit the Jazz clubs. It was in a San Francisco jazz club that he first experienced Miles Davis. In 1956, Les won a Navy talent contest for singing, which resulted in his appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. 
After his discharge from the military, McCann moved to L.A.; Miles Davis recommended him to play with Cannonball Adderly, but he turned it down in order to form his own band. In 1960, Les signed with the Pacific Jazz label, becoming their top selling artist with Plays the Truth (1960). In 1967, McCann signed with Atlantic records, his first major record label. In 1969, Atlantic Records released Swiss Movement, a recording of McCann with Eddie Harris and Benny Bailey at the Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring the song “Compared to What”. The album was a top selling jazz record, and the song went platinum.
In the late ‘60s and ‘70s Les was an innovator in the soul jazz style, merging jazz with funk, and soul. He was a pioneer, being among the first to use electric piano, clavinet, and synthesizer in his music. His love of music has shined through many albums, bands, and collaborations over the years. Even a stroke in the mid-1990s could not stop his performances. In 2013, McCann preformed at the Lyric Theatre with the Javon Jackson Band. His first hometown concert in more than 30 years.
Les is not just a gifted musician. He is also a gifted photographer and painter. As a photographer, he has taken more than 8,000 photographs documenting his life and relationships with jazz legends like Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and Duke Ellington. He has a dark room in his home, and has sold a significant number of pieces. As a painter, he specializes in watercolors, with a focus on flowers. His work is on display at two galleries in Scottsdale, AZ, and Santa Barbara, CA.
