When I was 14, my Dad took me to the coast for a Jazz concert, and at that concert I saw Eddie Harris and Les McCann perform this song. It changed my life, I fell in love with Jazz. It was one of the best gifts he ever shared with me. Thanks Dad....
Lucky you. I only had the original album to listen to -- with my friend in Chicago -- back in the day, 1969, I believe. I've been listening to this ever since and it is as fresh as when I first heard it. Unfortunately, I'm not. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day. No -- check that! Tomorrow is NOT just another day! Tomorrow we excise this deep deep wound from our body politic in the name of Donald J. Trump and we welcome the duo of Biden and Harris. As Etta James would say: "At last."
I was a publicity agent for bands in London in the 1970s (Kaygee Publicity, Denmark St) and we represented Eddie Harris when he came and recorded the London sessions. He was a lovely guy and when I was given a copy of Swiss Movement I immediately knew this song was THE stand-out track, brilliant in every way, from the great, joyful ensemble playing to those fantastic truth-filled words from Gene McDaniels. We have to look at what's happened since and coming now and admit: compared to the days of Compared To What, we're in a very deep rut indeed.
He performed this song in the later months of 1969. I didn’t know Roberta Flack sang the same song in the early months of 1969. So I guess people like the second version of this song. The second artist who performed this song in 1969 is forever attached to the song
It's been a couple of months over 50 years, that my dad turned me to this song and started me out on the road to becoming a man,I am now a grandfather with 3 grandsons, their dad knows this song and now the 14 and 12 year Olds know this song also, 50 years since I first heard it, now my grandsons know it,music It's eternal.
The great Les McCann with the late great Eddie Harris playing Try To Make It Real Compared To What... I'm not that old but I have always loved jazz! They don't have the Jazz Clubs like they used to RIP LES❣️
I remember one cold night in Anchorage Alaska, when had just got here,Sept 1971,my dad was sitting on the couch drinking Johnny Walker Red,he said here boy ,listen to this,I was 16,I'm 65 now,and my dad had passed but I still love this song and still love him for turning me on to it.
Tommy Brown... I can relate. My dad played this album wen I was a kid. He passed in 2012, I'm pushin 60, and this is STILL one of my all-time favorite jazz cuts.
You have a wonderful father. I remember my father taking me to see Dave Brubeck at Arie Crown Theater in 1974 and the warm up was Herbie Mann after his Push Push album was released. I've never been the same since. Peace.
Your father deemed you mature enough and ready for "the talk"! It's here, in the mix with a virtual lifetime of spiritual truth. These men join with every other human, joining their voices to speak the truth, from their oppressed perspective. From slave quarters to gulags to a corner of the West Wing, people will and MUST talk. Enough is enough. Nothing gets changed until SOMEONE gets mad enough to do something about it. Period.
Yeah, I can play it over and over Heard it years ago somehow and then picked it up again in the last couple years. Lyrics still ring true. Shared with sax player and pianist friends of mine It should be higher up on the lists
R.I.P. Les McCann, please spread some love and heartfelt condolences to his family. The Kentucky native joined the West Coast jazz scene, but his performance of "Compared to What" at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968 transcended geography.
Like. I said 1 guy on a mixer and 100 thousand dollars worth of equipment will never ever ever compare to what 6 guys with real lifetime experience bringing their own mix to the magic is priceless I've listen to this literally 1000's of times still in awe 9-3 2020
First time I heard this I walked in the house back in winter of 1984 and I heard my father singing along to it in the den. I’m a hardcore rap fan EPMD, Nas, Mobb Deep, Goodie Mobb and NWA but this is the hardest I ever heard. As a young 10 year old I listened to the song over and over and understood the man my father was. A Great Man. Rest in Peace Mr. McCann.
Man! I've been listening to this most of my life. I had the vinyl album, cassette, compact disk now on TH-cam. I never would have dreamed that I would be able to watch the video of this performance, this is out of sight! Les is making love to those Ivories and Eddie is blowing some Soul! Thank you Riksury and TH-cam!
THE actual performance that's on the album ... I was so totally jazzed when I found this video ... I played the record so many times since I first heard it in 1971 that I know every note → and knew instantly this was the real deal ... Amazing how fresh it still sounds ...
Enjoying it May 2024. A friend played this in 71? and I was hooked on jazz. Still sounds great and is still relevant 55 yrs later! This was the FIRST TIME this song was played!! Virtuoso musicians!!!!
OMG. I knew "Compared to What" with Les and Eddie. The video started playing and I immediately exclaimed "I have this album". My goodness I must have purchased this when it was 1st released and it is in pristine condition. It was great seeing the actual performance of the recording. I cranked it up to push the sound through my very capable computer speaker system. I played it again, and again. Then my wife left to run an errand so I went down to the theater sound system and pushed it though that. Whew! Now at 78, the good old days revisited.
@@michaelwoodward9894 I don't know about "always", and while I understand your point, black anger, be it this piece, James Baldwin, or Nina Simone, is black anger. (A white Canadian's perspective)
Kareen Abdul Jabbar just posted this on his substack in honor of Les McCann's passing -- and I realized it's been like a year since I listened to it. What was I thinking?! This jam NEVER gets old, and I'm gonna keep playing it for the rest of my life! Thank you, Les and Eddie and Benny! And thanks to Kareem for reminding me. (If you want to read a quality 'newsletter/life musing' journal, subscribe to Kareem's!)
This album was in a lot of households in the neighborhood when it came out and you knew it was Friday or Saturday night when your folks played this joint. 9 years old when this came out!! As kids, we couldn’t wait til Les cussed in the break!! The band was cooking on this!!
LOLZ. Pop music is always shit. The 60s probably had the most exceptions to that, but this was not "pop". The ARCHIES were 60s pop. They're not bad as pop goes, but they're still pop. You have to search out good music in any era.
Same here. In my early teens I first heard this song playing in a record store in Harvard Square... (Cambridge, MA in the early 1970's, Atlantic Records). I bought the album and wore it out and always wished I could have seen the live performance! Amazing to watch!!!
A revelation to me too! Stumbled across it by accident--no, this was no accident! My dad played this to death! Heard it a million times, never SAW this!!! THANK YOU FATHER!
It was asked earlier ho are the players during this session? They are listed below. Eddie Harris - tenor saxophone Les McCann - piano, vocals on "Compared to What" Benny Bailey - trumpet Leroy Vinnegar - bass Donald Dean - drums This is a classic performance and I am so glad that it was captured on film. The guys "kicked ass" on this one.
I just saw another classic performance with Marcus king and billy strings at the rooster walk music festival in which m.king sang a version of compared to what.21 yo blew me away.
WOW! How is it that nothing just spontaneously burst into flames on that stage, this was so hot! What musicianship, and what a GREAT song! The lyrics are so relevant *now*! Also, how is Les McCann not a household name?
I've got this on vinyl. Only came here as I wanted to share with a friend. What I am saying is that many more people love this than the 4k figure suggests. Some people who grew up with it don't even know youtube! ;o)
Saw them in concert at Kool Jazz Festival 1970 hosted by Ramsey Lewis....Mind Blowing ...now as a 69 year old this tune has been flowing through my mind. A mantra for our lives in America
Profound. Something to Say, Something to Hear, Something to Watch, Something to Appreciate, Something to Admire, Something to Aspire to, Something to Teach, Something to Celebrate. ~with Gratitude to Les McCann, Eddie Harris and this entire group!
OMG What a beautifully written statement which covers everything about this amazing tune. BRAVO HASHACHAR 70 Thank you - it is truly the best comment I believe I ever read and you hit every aspect of this amazing song. PROFOUND INDEED.
Hot damn, this is so fly. Les McCann was The Man. I was reading yesterday about his passing a few days ago on Dec. 29, 2023, and found an interview in which he revealed smoking hash for the first time immediately before hitting the stage for this concert at the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. Said he didn't know where he was or what he was doing. His band said, "Play, man." And so he did. Wish I could deliver a performance like this while baked off my ass on hash. I say again, hot damn. Scorsese got some mileage out of this tune for the Casino (1995) soundtrack. Marty has impeccable musical taste. RIP, Les.
“Goddammit! Tryin to make it real compared to what!?” Such a raw and real and memorable piece. I haven’t heard or seen this in a long ass time. I’ve been humming it to myself for about 50 years. Love it!
chicken feathers without one nut obediently waiting in line to have God-knows-what injected into our bodies, as usual assuming what preachers and other authorities tell us must be true. i have always wanted to hear a version by the composer along with his comments on the lyrics. i don't get the thing about King Tut.
50 years ago this was the song that opened the door to the world of jazz for me…. Man this was smoking we’d slide the needle back to hear a great piano run a second and third time some of them were so good… talk about soul… this was the epitome of soul jazz!
1970 The Cave, a student club in Heidelberg, Germany - it was the most popular song for dancing, plotting and change....It changed my live and my outlook. We did try to make it real...compared to what? Rest in Peace Les.
A classic performance of a classic song! Les McCann's playing and his vocals are out of this world!! These brothers are cooking!!! I just love seeing this performance, and I'm so glad and thankful that it was captured on video.
Eddie Harris love being in East Lansing. He tore the place up at the stables and walked out into the parking lot while playing this song. The crowd went crazy. 3:07
I met Les McCann in about 1990 as a passenger on an airport shuttle I drove for a short time. Picked him up at his residence which if I recall was in No. Hollywood, CA at the time. Used to have the LP in about 1970, so he knew I was an actual fan when I mentioned this title as my favorite.
Yes, we are in a deep, deep rut. (When I canvassed for Obama, I said I hoped he would help " get us out of the toilet.") I am thinking this time around, I might work for Cornel West, a contributor to the volume 'The 60's Without Apology'.
I laughed a little when they used it for Coca-Cola commercials a few years back. It's a pretty satirical song for that. Technically they used a song, "Real Compared to What," which samples the original, but somehow I can't see Coke executives in Atlanta saying "Church on Sunday, sleep and nod, trying to duck the wrath of God!"
This piece of music was and NEVER will be "a little commercial" as it remains apropos and relevant today. Human conflict, adverse conditions, and societal ailments are things THAT HAVE NOT CHANGED!
@@richardshansky3040 waararra ass wrraaarareaarararraaraarawararwaarararraarwraaarr a raraararawasraear and and as weekend I era saree we'eaeeeeeeeeeewre ee
The song itself, written by Eugene Daniels speaks to the American condition. Then, and now. Totally awesome performances by 5 artists who must of known they were creating a moment that would never be forgotten. The one person that needs wider recognition is Benny Bailey!!
Wow, what a blast seeing this video for the first time. I fell in love with this take when I heard it in 1969 and have played it every year since then. Timeless and awesome. Les McCann passed away on Friday. RIP to him and to Eddie Harris and Benny Bailey. I'm sure they are jamming in Glory!
Everyone has a Compared To What story, here's mine. I used to live in Louisville, KY and the black radio station, WLOU, played all the black RnB hits through the daylight hours but they signed off at 12 Midnight. The last song they played was Compared To What, it was jazz and I'm sure gave whoever was the last DJ and engineer a chance to get everything ready for the next day. I just happened to catch the song one night and that was all it took. Since there was no DJ to announce who the artist was and it was jazz, it took me a minute to track the info down. Then when I did, the album I got had the same parts censored as the radio version that I had heard. But I still got the album. Decades later, when I worked at Best Buy and they sold music, I spotted Atlantic Jazz Soul, a complication that had the uncensored live cut. I was in Paradise. Now I am trying to find a replacement for the CD that I played to death. This song never gets old and the words and meaning are still relevant today. Wow!!
Just as relevant now in 2022 as it was in 1970! Sometimes you just have to admit that you are angry about what is taking place in the world and the unreality of it, in order to move forward, or transcend it, and this song has a wild energy that many have lost to help in that movement.
Got this on record from inheritance. Now I really understand this song. Genetics are an amazing thing. This song was my dad's favorite. When we had company over this song would have to be on at some point. School nights didn't matter. He would always crack up laughing on the 3rd verse where obviously the music abruptly stops to hear Les yell those infamous words of anger and disgust. Now it's my turn! So much for times changing huh! As relevant today as it was in 1969! And that band!!!! Thanks for sharing this song and video no film. My dad would have absolutely loved seeing this. In memorial August , 29 1987, Dad RIP!.
@Blind Brazilian Tex Atlantis If he iz still alive, honor him 4 dat, cause dat wuz enuff. Da author of dis thread, spoke of genetic nfluence... Well SINturiez have proven, dat u r probably here, bcause ur dad wuz a half azz. WOmen LOVE bad boyz & many timez, datz y we have horrible thangz happening n da world. Men, trying 2 please &/or mpress WOmen. On da otha hand.... Mayb dat good taste n muzak, charmed da pantiez ( Cause WOmen were less nclined 2 wear pantz, back then, rite? ) Mayb ur dadz good taste n muzak, charmed da pantiez, off ur mom & itz bcause of dat, ur ultimately, here!
Man!! This is one cold piece, and it just makes me smile everytime i hear this masterpiece, just like the 😃 smile i have on my face now. PEACE and LOVE EVERYONE.
Great jam. Still have the vinyl but grooves are a bit deeper. The Euro folks let it all out by unison stompin'/applause. They know what's happenin'. Rick
I agree. You can't believe something can be this good. Great players,great performance. Fantastic that these guys can still be reconiszed and inspiring for any other musicians. I keep revisiting this song Never wrong in its message unfortunately.
In 1969 my father introduced this song to 15-year old me. He loved it. I loved it. In 1971 he introduced 17-year old me to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Again. he loved it. I loved it. He transitioned in 2001. Miss him much. My father was way ahead of his time.
Always loved this tune. Read somewhere where these cats hadn't performed this song prior to this event. Shows you what kind of professionals these musicians be. 🎼
We were huddled around the radio too. Then My dad came home with the album. Great tune. I think it's kinda funny to hear people trying to build it up into some kind of profound meaning beyond reality. People should just shut up and listen.
We're all in 1967. Got to see Eddie hit a small club in the Mission district in S.F. Dropped in to another gig. Played keyboards. Well. Knew it inside out. Bought his records in the 70's. Is it in?
As a teen remember standing a few feet as these gifted musical masters prefromed there crafts at Eastown Mortor Inn East Cleveland Ohio late sixties,feel in love with jazz and still love to this day. Rest in Peace Les Compared to What. Harrison Clemons Clev Oh
In the sixties when I was a kid until. I move out on my home every Saturday my dad would play his albums an this was one of the songs he would play now when I listen to the words , I realize my dad was very aware of the message an how the music motivated him , how life was for a black man , I miss those Saturday mornings an my dad 💔💖💗💙💚💛🧡💜
When I was little child in the 60's my late Brother Mike RIP would have this album cover out, we use to ask him to play this so we can hear Les sing "Got damnit" LMBO
Recorded on June 21, 1969 at The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland - Wish Uploaders would list credits . Classic in every sense of the word. You feel it in your bones!
Swiss Movement (1969) is a wonderful, joyful album (despite Gene McDaniel‘s lyrics for Compared to What) that was important to me as a kid. It opened my rock and roll ears to jazzy sounds. I still love it and played it front to back just last week. Seems like everytime I listen, some new random thought pops into my mind: Ok, Eddie Harris had to be playing 2 saxes at once on that solo/lick-right? Leroy Vinegar is a great name for a jazz bassist! Benny Bailey was freaking Amazing - why wasn’t he a bigger star? and on and on. Of course, at the center of everything was the inimitable Les McCann on funky, jazzy piano and vocals, providing grooves for the soloists and acting as frontman/emcee as this one-off collaboration jammed an impromptu yet timeless set at Montreux 55 years ago. Thank goodness they recorded it. Thanks for the music Les. RIP.
I love that moment when Benny Bailey steps up to solo, but Eddie wants to take one more round. A beautiful moment of improvisational chaos and recovery. His big smile says it all, "Take it, brother!"
Eddie was on a roll, it was the right move, even if a little disrespectful... but the horn player made up for it at his turn! Man, he blasted his way in!
I had no idea this was filmed!! I had a cassette copy when I was in school and found a vinyl copy a few years later in a second hand shop. Two incredible musicians here! I had the pleasure of meeting Eddie Harris in the jazz cafe in London back in the 90s - very warm person.
Les just passed away. Had the great fortune of visiting him last month with a close friend of his. A great man. May he re-tune and come on back!
😢
Truth tellers must be honored... otherwise "compared to what:" is a downward spiral.
You're Beautiful How's I Wishes
Priceless
He died in 2023? Really? WoW! I really am out of the loop.
Who’s enjoying this song in 2024?
So Funny that the Words Ring True Today!! How AWSOME 🤔 ❓️ 🤔 ❓️
Me! Dang gumn it!
I see this pop up & man I’ve gotta listen.
FOREVER EVERLASTING❤
Me, me!
When I was 14, my Dad took me to the coast for a Jazz concert, and at that concert I saw Eddie Harris and Les McCann perform this song. It changed my life, I fell in love with Jazz. It was one of the best gifts he ever shared with me. Thanks Dad....
Lucky you. I only had the original album to listen to -- with my friend in Chicago -- back in the day, 1969, I believe. I've been listening to this ever since and it is as fresh as when I first heard it. Unfortunately, I'm not. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day. No -- check that! Tomorrow is NOT just another day! Tomorrow we excise this deep deep wound from our body politic in the name of Donald J. Trump and we welcome the duo of Biden and Harris. As Etta James would say: "At last."
😊😊😂😂
❤❤😅
@@joelwerth528idiot.
My Dad also turned me on to Jazz. Thanks Dad. Is a percssionust, playin congas in Jazz trio... Fashonably Late.
I was a publicity agent for bands in London in the 1970s (Kaygee Publicity, Denmark St) and we represented Eddie Harris when he came and recorded the London sessions. He was a lovely guy and when I was given a copy of Swiss Movement I immediately knew this song was THE stand-out track, brilliant in every way, from the great, joyful ensemble playing to those fantastic truth-filled words from Gene McDaniels. We have to look at what's happened since and coming now and admit: compared to the days of Compared To What, we're in a very deep rut indeed.
Far out!
THIS is what we are missing in music right now ... THIS
Cool story! Love it. ❤️
Who is the trumpet player?
Right on, Dalt- on
Rest in Peace, Mr. McCann. In the realm of soul jazz, you were beyond comparison. Thank you for your infectious swing and your truth.
❤😢
llono@@FrankGerhardBauer-dp6yr
Best use of "Goddammit!" in a song, ever!
I was just thinking that!!!
I say the same thing every time I hear this song. Just fantastic.
Sock it too me gd dammit
U rock
Best use of " sock it to me",also . Amen
I fell in love with this song when I heard it on the mobster movie. Casino. That was 1995. Wow. This video is a treat. He is a great entertainer
He performed this song in the later months of 1969. I didn’t know Roberta Flack sang the same song in the early months of 1969. So I guess people like the second version of this song. The second artist who performed this song in 1969 is forever attached to the song
@@cherylculmer6338Who wrote the song?
Those 2 trumpet solos says it all!
60 years later and this tune is just as relevant now as then and no doubt 60 years from now.
exactly what i was thinking. war and abortion.
Roe B Wade, try to make it real compared to what?
Sock it to me, he said and they did! 🎶🎺🎺🎶
It's been a couple of months over 50 years, that my dad turned me to this song and started me out on the road to becoming a man,I am now a grandfather with 3 grandsons, their dad knows this song and now the 14 and 12 year Olds know this song also, 50 years since I first heard it, now my grandsons know it,music It's eternal.
Well said
Ain't nothing better than old school jazz
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT.
The great Les McCann with the late great Eddie Harris playing Try To Make It Real Compared To What... I'm not that old but I have always loved jazz! They don't have the Jazz Clubs like they used to
RIP LES❣️
I remember one cold night in Anchorage Alaska, when had just got here,Sept 1971,my dad was sitting on the couch drinking Johnny Walker Red,he said here boy ,listen to this,I was 16,I'm 65 now,and my dad had passed but I still love this song and still love him for turning me on to it.
Tommy Brown...
I can relate. My dad played this album wen I was a kid. He passed in 2012, I'm pushin 60, and this is STILL one of my all-time favorite jazz cuts.
You have a wonderful father. I remember my father taking me to see Dave Brubeck at Arie Crown Theater in 1974 and the warm up was Herbie Mann after his Push Push album was released. I've never been the same since. Peace.
Your father deemed you mature enough and ready for "the talk"!
It's here, in the mix with a virtual lifetime of spiritual truth. These men join with every other human, joining their voices to speak the truth, from their oppressed perspective.
From slave quarters to gulags to a corner of the West Wing, people will and MUST talk. Enough is enough. Nothing gets changed until SOMEONE gets mad enough to do something about it. Period.
Your Father was a righteous soul !
That is the coolest memory.
Man, this does not get old...
@Jean Nieves , Right, yeah this really rolls it down the road...
Yes sir
How good is that?
Presente!
Had the pleasure of playing opposite Les in 1975. What a gentleman he was and a great talent
One of the best pieces of music ever recorded. Sheer genius. The first time I heard it, I played it for 8 hours straight on a loop.
Okay, so I'm not crazy. I just heard this and I haven't stopped playing it for 3 hours.
@@Saturnchild56 It's that type of tune.
@@Saturnchild56 ; No your not crazy it's just that good!
Not quite 8 hours but , yeah. Hell yeah.
Yeah, I can play it over and over
Heard it years ago somehow and then picked it up again in the last couple years. Lyrics still ring true. Shared with sax player and pianist friends of mine
It should be higher up on the lists
R.I.P. Les McCann, please spread some love and heartfelt condolences to his family. The Kentucky native joined the West Coast jazz scene, but his performance of "Compared to What" at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968 transcended geography.
Like. I said 1 guy on a mixer and 100 thousand dollars worth of equipment will never ever ever compare to what 6 guys with real lifetime experience bringing their own mix to the magic is priceless I've listen to this literally 1000's of times still in awe 9-3 2020
9-23-20 still smokin
Yes, I concur, totally!
Hey man Ur right as hell mixer has no DAMN
EMOTIONS
Ill be playing it on 11-3-2020 one way or the other. Vote Trump out! Goddamn it!
Now this is real
Timeless song. Still happening today!!!! 2023.
ABSOLUTELY!!!!
First time I heard this I walked in the house back in winter of 1984 and I heard my father singing along to it in the den. I’m a hardcore rap fan EPMD, Nas, Mobb Deep, Goodie Mobb and NWA but this is the hardest I ever heard. As a young 10 year old I listened to the song over and over and understood the man my father was. A Great Man. Rest in Peace Mr. McCann.
❤🎉
I love the humble bass player who is actually holding it all together along with the drummer.
Man! I've been listening to this most of my life. I had the vinyl album, cassette, compact disk now on TH-cam.
I never would have dreamed that I would be able to watch the video of this performance, this is out of sight! Les is making love to those Ivories and Eddie is blowing some Soul! Thank you Riksury and TH-cam!
This lyrics of this 1970's song still applies to 2020.
Even more so just a few days away from election 2020...yikes! What a year
"Slightly disturbing",.... and didn't we just know that Trump wouldn't go peacefully!!
Another one is ' The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' by Gill Scott-Heron.
@@foresight87 Gil Scott heron's lyrics applies to every decade after this was song was written.
@@jamescarter5042 Proto-rap.
Who’s enjoying this song in 2023?
I AM & Lovin it 👍
All not brainwashed by DJ‘s
All of us. The rest need to know.
today it's 2024!
@@wiseoldsnail Who will survive to 2025?
THE actual performance that's on the album ... I was so totally jazzed when I found this video ... I played the record so many times since I first heard it in 1971 that I know every note → and knew instantly this was the real deal ... Amazing how fresh it still sounds ...
Yeah man, samehere ...seeing them playing it makes it all the better eh?...
Trying to make it real compared to what...sock it to me now !!!!!!!
All this time I didn't know there was video to this
@@raybrown1725 is the full show up please i wanna see Rashan Kirk space ways
down the corridor back to the stage
I'm 70 now. I loved this masterpiece in 1969 ( freshman year) Soooo, I've loved Jazz all my life?!! Timeless piece just like me❤
How could you ever STOP enjoying this song?
YOU CAN'T
Enjoying it May 2024.
A friend played this in 71? and I was hooked on jazz. Still sounds great and is still relevant 55 yrs later! This was the FIRST TIME this song was played!! Virtuoso musicians!!!!
Q🎉q
OMG. I knew "Compared to What" with Les and Eddie. The video started playing and I immediately exclaimed "I have this album". My goodness I must have purchased this when it was 1st released and it is in pristine condition. It was great seeing the actual performance of the recording. I cranked it up to push the sound through my very capable computer speaker system. I played it again, and again. Then my wife left to run an errand so I went down to the theater sound system and pushed it though that. Whew! Now at 78, the good old days revisited.
I resonate with this. The house to yourself and loud, great music is a special thing
Invite ME.. next time you do this at your house.....GOD DAMMIT !!!!!!!..... just like the song says.
see them live at the montreux festival 1969.it was amazing.
Try his version w Klaus Doldinger in Passport Jubilee
One of the most authentic pieces ever recorded. Words and music perfectly expressing the same anger.
Les McCann: My first real favorite in my intro to Jazz, back in 1960.
@@martybrynildsen4001 I no no no no
Hell Yeah
Why does truth always have to be anger when expressed by the black man
@@michaelwoodward9894 I don't know about "always", and while I understand your point, black anger, be it this piece, James Baldwin, or Nina Simone, is black anger. (A white Canadian's perspective)
A stone cold/red hot funky jazz masterpiece! The lyrics haven't lost one bit of their relevance. If you can't get your groove on to this...
Absolutely 💯
Kareen Abdul Jabbar just posted this on his substack in honor of Les McCann's passing -- and I realized it's been like a year since I listened to it. What was I thinking?! This jam NEVER gets old, and I'm gonna keep playing it for the rest of my life! Thank you, Les and Eddie and Benny! And thanks to Kareem for reminding me. (If you want to read a quality 'newsletter/life musing' journal, subscribe to Kareem's!)
This album was in a lot of households in the neighborhood when it came out and you knew it was Friday or Saturday night when your folks played this joint. 9 years old when this came out!! As kids, we couldn’t wait til Les cussed in the break!! The band was cooking on this!!
I love this imagery
@@essenceblakemore6734 Those were great times and great memories centered around real jazz music!!
@Nitroden0516 you know it!!
This is the real deal, compared to the pop music we endure today. Real emotions, real virtuosity, real energy. Love it!
LOLZ. Pop music is always shit. The 60s probably had the most exceptions to that, but this was not "pop".
The ARCHIES were 60s pop. They're not bad as pop goes, but they're still pop. You have to search out good music in any era.
Heard these greats do this great song live as a teenager in the Eastown motel in East Cleveland Ohio 1960s bo clemons clev. Oh
❤❤ 🎉
Im 73, I rarely heard jazz on Los Angeles radio in the 60-70's.
E
This song brings tears to my eyes it’s so powerful
I have loved this piece ever since I heard it when it came, but I have never seen it as it was performed. This is a revelation to me.
It doesn't get any better than this I had to peep it three times to hear the choir!!!
Same here. In my early teens I first heard this song playing in a record store in Harvard Square... (Cambridge, MA in the early 1970's, Atlantic Records). I bought the album and wore it out and always wished I could have seen the live performance! Amazing to watch!!!
A revelation to me too! Stumbled across it by accident--no, this was no accident! My dad played this to death! Heard it a million times, never SAW this!!! THANK YOU FATHER!
Da Duck be slam-dunkin
4:10
4:29.
da Duck sledgehammah
all dat b.s. maestro PianoMan be dissin
I saw Les McCann a couple times in L.A. He's Aires. I always loved this raw song which still rings true today.
Timeless Masterpiece! I bought this recording when it first came out. I have never seen a film of this recording. Bless you for posting!
"Timeless Masterpiece" it most certainly IS not only for its music, but for the meaning contained within it and for the relevance of it.
One of the greats. Still playing this after forty years
A veritable MASTERPIECE. This brings back vivid memories.
Yes it does
Right on..🎤🎷🎺🎸🪘🎹🎵🎶🎼
It was asked earlier ho are the players during this session? They are listed below.
Eddie Harris - tenor saxophone
Les McCann - piano, vocals on "Compared to What"
Benny Bailey - trumpet
Leroy Vinnegar - bass
Donald Dean - drums
This is a classic performance and I am so glad that it was captured on film. The guys "kicked ass" on this one.
Come on Benny, now
Thank you sir.
Bill James THANK GOD, FOR HIS MERCIES ENDURETH FOREVER. JESUS IS LORD. Philippians 2:9-12. Thank GOD HASN'T GIVEN Us What We deserve...Hell!
Is that Eddie Harris on sax?
I just saw another classic performance with Marcus king and billy strings at the rooster walk music festival in which m.king sang a version of compared to what.21 yo blew me away.
I was 19 years old and on my way to Vietnam when I first heard it,still have the album.
I was maybe 18
glad u made it back bro
Glad you made it back!
Good Old Rust Elvis! Glad to be here with you
How are you doing now???? Hope you’re living your best life! Cheers
Brothers playing some " real " music. This sound still resonates today. This is a part of our history moving forward.
WOW! How is it that nothing just spontaneously burst into flames on that stage, this was so hot! What musicianship, and what a GREAT song! The lyrics are so relevant *now*! Also, how is Les McCann not a household name?
EXACTLY.....😎😎😎👍🌿
Love your comments Patty!🌹
One of the greatest live performances of all time watched only 4k times? This is a tune everybody should play.
olddavid4
If this don't make you move. You don't have a pulse.
olddavid4
Just played it for my daughter !
I've got this on vinyl. Only came here as I wanted to share with a friend. What I am saying is that many more people love this than the 4k figure suggests. Some people who grew up with it don't even know youtube! ;o)
331K as of Nov 2019, so it's definitely getting some attention!
4000 & 1 my friend. I’m diggin it
Saw them in concert at Kool Jazz Festival 1970 hosted by Ramsey Lewis....Mind Blowing ...now as a 69 year old this tune has been flowing through my mind. A mantra for our lives in America
Indeed.
Profound. Something to Say, Something to Hear, Something to Watch, Something to Appreciate, Something to Admire, Something to Aspire to, Something to Teach, Something to Celebrate. ~with Gratitude to Les McCann, Eddie Harris and this entire group!
hashachar70
This song is still as revalant today as it was then !!
#NDeed
needs a redo with Samuel l Jackson on vocals
Have but one doubt they call it treason, so much for freedom of thought !!!!!!
OMG What a beautifully written statement which covers everything about this amazing tune. BRAVO HASHACHAR 70 Thank you - it is truly the best comment I believe I ever read and you hit every aspect of this amazing song. PROFOUND INDEED.
Hot damn, this is so fly. Les McCann was The Man. I was reading yesterday about his passing a few days ago on Dec. 29, 2023, and found an interview in which he revealed smoking hash for the first time immediately before hitting the stage for this concert at the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. Said he didn't know where he was or what he was doing. His band said, "Play, man." And so he did.
Wish I could deliver a performance like this while baked off my ass on hash. I say again, hot damn. Scorsese got some mileage out of this tune for the Casino (1995) soundtrack. Marty has impeccable musical taste. RIP, Les.
Had this album from it’s first release back in the day.
Never saw this video until now!
WHEW!!!
“Goddammit! Tryin to make it real compared to what!?” Such a raw and real and memorable piece. I haven’t heard or seen this in a long ass time. I’ve been humming it to myself for about 50 years. Love it!
What a song! Apt for these Covid times! I was 9 years old at BW Harris Episcopal school in Monrovia, Liberia in '69!
🙏
chicken feathers without one nut obediently waiting in line to have God-knows-what injected into our bodies, as usual assuming what preachers and other authorities tell us must be true. i have always wanted to hear a version by the composer along with his comments on the lyrics. i don't get the thing about King Tut.
Must have played this song every day in my childhood. Funny how youngsters back then loved and appreciated jazz music like this.
50 years ago this was the song that opened the door to the world of jazz for me…. Man this was smoking we’d slide the needle back to hear a great piano run a second and third time some of them were so good… talk about soul… this was the epitome of soul jazz!
1970 The Cave, a student club in Heidelberg, Germany - it was the most popular song for dancing, plotting and change....It changed my live and my outlook. We did try to make it real...compared to what? Rest in Peace Les.
A classic performance of a classic song! Les McCann's playing and his vocals are out of this world!! These brothers are cooking!!! I just love seeing this performance, and I'm so glad and thankful that it was captured on video.
Eddie Harris love being in East Lansing. He tore the place up at the stables and walked out into the parking lot while playing this song. The crowd went crazy. 3:07
Then he walked back into the crowd and the place went nuts 3:31
Had no idea this all time classic was actually captured on film!! .. Priceless! .. Timeless!! .. Thank you for posting!!
th-cam.com/video/y8YOLY4Tats/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/lQomNPpdCOA/w-d-xo.html
My dad would sing and dance along to this and interpret the themes for me. This is one of the baddest jazz struts ever recorded.
This is one of my happy places on youtube. Compared to what? A whole bunch of noise of which this is one of the true gems.
I met Les McCann in about 1990 as a passenger on an airport shuttle I drove for a short time. Picked him up at his residence which if I recall was in No. Hollywood, CA at the time. Used to have the LP in about 1970, so he knew I was an actual fan when I mentioned this title as my favorite.
still one of the greatest pieces of music ever produced.
This song invigorates my DNA!!!!!
This tune really ages well. It seemed a little commercial when it came out; now it feels like a masterpiece.
Yes, we are in a deep, deep rut. (When I canvassed for Obama, I said I hoped he would help " get us out of the toilet.") I am thinking this time around, I might work for Cornel West, a contributor to the volume 'The 60's Without Apology'.
Really? It's hard to imagine "unwed mothers need abortions" ever being commercial
I laughed a little when they used it for Coca-Cola commercials a few years back. It's a pretty satirical song for that. Technically they used a song, "Real Compared to What," which samples the original, but somehow I can't see Coke executives in Atlanta saying "Church on Sunday, sleep and nod, trying to duck the wrath of God!"
No, it's what Homer Simpson does, ha ha@@jorymil
This piece of music was and NEVER will be "a little commercial" as it remains apropos and relevant today. Human conflict, adverse conditions, and societal ailments are things THAT HAVE NOT CHANGED!
Timeless song. Les McCann, brilliant and will be sorely missed! His music will live on and on and on. Rest in powerful peace sir.
The definitive performance of a truly iconic song.
Holy Cow! I've treasured the album "Swiss Movement" for years. I had no idea there was live footage. Thanks for posting!
Me either! So glad.
@@richardshansky3040 waararra ass wrraaarareaarararraaraarawararwaarararraarwraaarr a raraararawasraear and and as weekend I era saree we'eaeeeeeeeeeewre ee
The song itself, written by Eugene Daniels speaks to the American condition. Then, and now. Totally awesome performances by 5 artists who must of known they were creating a moment that would never be forgotten. The one person that needs wider recognition is Benny Bailey!!
Benny's up there, looking every bit the benevolent godfather in suit and turtleneck, but then he just kills it and keeps smiling.
(from Bolivia)
Sept 7, 2023 this Music will never die & knows no country boundaries
Yep, Benny was THE class act, a beautiful man.
This song came on the radio a few weeks ago, and my 4yr old nephew was in the backseat just a Jamming!! 😎🎶🎷
Wow, what a blast seeing this video for the first time. I fell in love with this take when I heard it in 1969 and have played it every year since then. Timeless and awesome. Les McCann passed away on Friday. RIP to him and to Eddie Harris and Benny Bailey. I'm sure they are jamming in Glory!
I know, awesome right?!
Everyone has a Compared To What story, here's mine. I used to live in Louisville, KY and the black radio station, WLOU, played all the black RnB hits through the daylight hours but they signed off at 12 Midnight. The last song they played was Compared To What, it was jazz and I'm sure gave whoever was the last DJ and engineer a chance to get everything ready for the next day. I just happened to catch the song one night and that was all it took. Since there was no DJ to announce who the artist was and it was jazz, it took me a minute to track the info down. Then when I did, the album I got had the same parts censored as the radio version that I had heard. But I still got the album. Decades later, when I worked at Best Buy and they sold music, I spotted Atlantic Jazz Soul, a complication that had the uncensored live cut. I was in Paradise. Now I am trying to find a replacement for the CD that I played to death. This song never gets old and the words and meaning are still relevant today. Wow!!
🎉🎉
Just as relevant now in 2022 as it was in 1970! Sometimes you just have to admit that you are angry about what is taking place in the world and the unreality of it, in order to move forward, or transcend it, and this song has a wild energy that many have lost to help in that movement.
Timeless... 50 years later the lyrics are still current.
50? 50 years? Life goes by so fast. Enjoy all the moments you can
Got this on record from inheritance. Now I really understand this song. Genetics are an amazing thing. This song was my dad's favorite. When we had company over this song would have to be on at some point. School nights didn't matter. He would always crack up laughing on the 3rd verse where obviously the music abruptly stops to hear Les yell those infamous words of anger and disgust. Now it's my turn! So much for times changing huh! As relevant today as it was in 1969! And that band!!!! Thanks for sharing this song and video no film. My dad would have absolutely loved seeing this. In memorial August , 29 1987, Dad RIP!.
You old man tryin to tell you something
Thumper
SMH @ Compared 2 what & ur dadz dsgust.
YUPPERZ!!!!
Same azz it ever wuz.
💓🙏🏽💓
@Blind Brazilian Tex Atlantis
If he iz still alive, honor him 4 dat, cause dat wuz enuff. Da author of dis thread, spoke of genetic nfluence... Well SINturiez have proven, dat u r probably here, bcause ur dad wuz a half azz. WOmen LOVE bad boyz & many timez, datz y we have horrible thangz happening n da world. Men, trying 2 please &/or mpress WOmen.
On da otha hand.... Mayb dat good taste n muzak, charmed da pantiez ( Cause WOmen were less nclined 2 wear pantz, back then, rite? ) Mayb ur dadz good taste n muzak, charmed da pantiez, off ur mom & itz bcause of dat, ur ultimately, here!
@Blind Brazilian Tex Atlantis
HEAR, HERE!!!
This was an unrehersed jam at the Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Pure talent and creativity caught forever for us to enjoy.
1969 was a big year in my life. Long time ago now, but the music lives on.
Who could downvote this jazz masterpiece. Fantastic musicianship all 'round. Love the lyrics. One of the greatest performances ever in music!
Who could downvote it? A T____ voter...
Man!! This is one cold piece, and it just makes me smile everytime i hear this masterpiece, just like the 😃 smile i have on my face now.
PEACE and LOVE EVERYONE.
well said :) I'm smiling at the genius
Great jam. Still have the vinyl but grooves are a bit deeper.
The Euro folks let it all out by unison stompin'/applause. They know what's happenin'. Rick
And to you as well my friend!
Same to you Rodney.
Memories…. My Dad, a “Hi-Fi stereo system “ , and lots of Love….. Thanks for the memories 👍🏽🙏🏽😎
My Dad, too❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I found this song while watching the movie Casino. I love the way Eddie talks.
Thanks Dad for giving me access to some of the best music of my life ❤ One of my faves I listened to with him 🎶❤ 🎶
I love how he tells his sax player that "he's got it", because he wanted to do his piano solo. He felt it right there and had to do it. This is a gem!
One of the great songs of any genre, after 40 years I still get goose bumps when I hear it, just amazing.
ABSOLUTELY!!!
My daddy's records I wanted to play this song at his funeral but my mother thought it be to much lol
I agree. You can't believe something can be this good.
Great players,great performance.
Fantastic that these guys can still be reconiszed and inspiring for any other musicians.
I keep revisiting this song
Never wrong in its message unfortunately.
me too. it's a goose-bumping song, and now in these days of goose-stepping, as relevant as when it first came out.
This brings back a beautiful time in music .
It will never come again.
In 1969 my father introduced this song to 15-year old me. He loved it. I loved it. In 1971 he introduced 17-year old me to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Again. he loved it. I loved it. He transitioned in 2001. Miss him much. My father was way ahead of his time.
Always loved this tune. Read somewhere where these cats hadn't performed this song prior to this event. Shows you what kind of professionals these musicians be. 🎼
1969 and believe me it was a big deal to hear " got dammit " on the radio. I was 17 years young, I'm 67 in July 2018,.
Donald Alexander well yes, understandable was the anger ... a half a million American troops were in Vietnam in 1968
Donald Alexander and I was twenty. I do still have this album.
We were huddled around the radio too. Then My dad came home with the album. Great tune. I think it's kinda funny to hear people trying to build it up into some kind of profound meaning beyond reality. People should just shut up and listen.
We're all in 1967. Got to see Eddie hit a small club in the Mission district in S.F. Dropped in to another gig. Played keyboards. Well. Knew it inside out. Bought his records in the 70's. Is it in?
I just got this on vinyl from a cafe selling records for $2 in sf mission so I am declaring it’s in! Breathing oxygen
still timeless. still relevant. true art without all the mixing. true talent.
Compared To What?
one of the most compelling things i’ve ever seen; exquisitely filmed; an anthem that needs to be heard and seen all over again.
Bought that album at the age of 20 am now 75!! "Trying To Make It Real Compared To What." YES!!!!
Dad played it for me at 13, now 61. Good is good compared to EVERYTHING! 🙂
As a teen remember standing a few feet as these gifted musical masters prefromed there crafts at Eastown Mortor Inn East Cleveland Ohio late sixties,feel in love with jazz and still love to this day. Rest in Peace Les Compared to What. Harrison Clemons Clev Oh
In the sixties when I was a kid until. I move out on my home every Saturday my dad would play his albums an this was one of the songs he would play now when I listen to the words , I realize my dad was very aware of the message an how the music motivated him , how life was for a black man , I miss those Saturday mornings an my dad 💔💖💗💙💚💛🧡💜
Proud to be a part of the generation that first heard this anthem.
When I was little child in the 60's my late Brother Mike RIP would have this album cover out, we use to ask him to play this so we can hear Les sing "Got damnit" LMBO
This song, this music, this legends, are eternal, like the sun, shinny and hot...
I'm proud to say that I used to jam too this back In 1969 I'm glad that some of you all are catching up.
Les just blasts machine gun triplets at 6:33 that defines soulful piano playing to the max.
When coming home from Vietnam, I blasted this tune for years. Still Love it.
One of the greatest jazz tracks I've ever heard--and as well suited to the these times as to the '60s.
A true prophet.
Recorded on June 21, 1969 at The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland - Wish Uploaders would list credits . Classic in every sense of the word. You feel it in your bones!
Yeah, you classify it, you need to listen to it
Pure Class KTF OMG WOW!!!!
Swiss Movement
How about major props to the man who wrote it!! Eugene McDaniels. Incredible man.
Yep! And I was just a little kid back then. My maternal uncle (RIP) turned me to these brothers.
I remember hearing that song for the first time on my dad's record player when I was a child. Stuck in my head ever since. R.I.P Les.
Swiss Movement (1969) is a wonderful, joyful album (despite Gene McDaniel‘s lyrics for Compared to What) that was important to me as a kid. It opened my rock and roll ears to jazzy sounds. I still love it and played it front to back just last week. Seems like everytime I listen, some new random thought pops into my mind:
Ok, Eddie Harris had to be playing 2 saxes at once on that solo/lick-right?
Leroy Vinegar is a great name for a jazz bassist!
Benny Bailey was freaking Amazing - why wasn’t he a bigger star?
and on and on.
Of course, at the center of everything was the inimitable Les McCann on funky, jazzy piano and vocals, providing grooves for the soloists and acting as frontman/emcee as this one-off collaboration jammed an impromptu yet timeless set at Montreux 55 years ago.
Thank goodness they recorded it.
Thanks for the music Les. RIP.
Even after all these years still amazing! Jazz is timeless and remains fresh.🎷🎵🎶🎹🎵🎶🎺🎶🎵
So true
I love that moment when Benny Bailey steps up to solo, but Eddie wants to take one more round. A beautiful moment of improvisational chaos and recovery. His big smile says it all, "Take it, brother!"
Eddie was on a roll, it was the right move, even if a little disrespectful... but the horn player made up for it at his turn! Man, he blasted his way in!
Benny Bailey
@@JosephScott-ct9sw Corrected, thanks.
I had no idea this was filmed!! I had a cassette copy when I was in school and found a vinyl copy a few years later in a second hand shop. Two incredible musicians here! I had the pleasure of meeting Eddie Harris in the jazz cafe in London back in the 90s - very warm person.
Listened to it high in 1973. still listening...
Hard to compare this Live Jazz tune with any other! The magnificence of this is just stupendous! Thank You guys!