As Ted Gioia described it:
“Jazz was like one of those newspaper chess problems: move from bop to free in ten moves. Change was the byword.”
As is often the case with change, some of it had a positive effect on Jazz, but there were also disastrous consequences as well.
In a way, the soul and funk movement was a step to the side for Jazz or, if you will, a look backward at its rhythm and blues roots."
The club was not in Hollywood per se, nor was it quite on The Sunset Strip. It was between the two as you exited Hollywood to the west along Sunset Blvd. You had to know exactly where it was located [along a short curving pathway off of Sunset at the corner of Gardner], because when it first opened, there was no signage directing you to the club.
Les' soulful, bluesy and funky style of playing really appealed to the younger Jazz audience who were becoming especially put off by the rapid changes going on in mainstream Jazz at that time.
“Jazz was like one of those newspaper chess problems: move from bop to free in ten moves. Change was the byword.”
As is often the case with change, some of it had a positive effect on Jazz, but there were also disastrous consequences as well.
In a way, the soul and funk movement was a step to the side for Jazz or, if you will, a look backward at its rhythm and blues roots."
Jazz with a rhythm and blues feeling retained some degree of popularity especially when it was performed with a talented vocalist such as Lou Rawls accompanied by Les McCann's soulful piano which could often be heard with his trio at a Hollywood Jazz Club called The Bit.
The club was not in Hollywood per se, nor was it quite on The Sunset Strip. It was between the two as you exited Hollywood to the west along Sunset Blvd. You had to know exactly where it was located [along a short curving pathway off of Sunset at the corner of Gardner], because when it first opened, there was no signage directing you to the club.
Les' soulful, bluesy and funky style of playing really appealed to the younger Jazz audience who were becoming especially put off by the rapid changes going on in mainstream Jazz at that time.
